Broken Frames, Torn Pictures
by AthenaHolmesArtistGuild
Summary: I met Thalassa while I was playing a show. When we first talked, I didn't think anything would come of it. She seemed nice enough, but there was no way she could possibly care about me at all.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 _The streets are extremely unforgiving. Once you're spit out onto its barren concrete like a piece of gum that's lost its flavor, you're stuck there, forced to take the abuse handed to you on a silver platter._

 _How do I know this? Well, I've been in a love/hate relationship with the streets for almost a year now. One day, I'll have some money in my pockets and it feel s like I'm on Cloud 9. The next, I'm shivering on the side of some road with chapped lips, and pockets as empty as my stomach._

 _My only possessions are the clothes on my back, a pair of scissors that could barely do anything except cut my hair, and a guitar. I earn whatever money I can playing that guitar. I've found that people are more generous when you have something to offer them in return._

 _I don't know how I've lived out here a year. Guess I'm just fast enough to run away from any adversaries that try to shank me. Or maybe I'm just lucky. After today, I'd probably lean towards the latter._

 _I was playing my normal street corner when a pair of leggings stopped in front of me and listened to me play. After a few minutes, I was beginning to get a little impatient. Are they gonna pay or what?_

 _Once the song was finished, I heard clapping. "You're really good," a female voice said._

 _I pressed my lips together to form some semblance of a smile aimed at the ground. She still hadn't walked away, so I looked up. A pair of the most startling blue eyes looked back at me. My mind went blank. "Th- thanks. I uh, get a lot of practice."_

 _She didn't seem to notice that I was frozen solid when she asked, with her pretty face cocked to the side, "do you play around here often?"_

 _Everything seemed to thaw out all at once as my mind started racing. Do I tell her the truth? Do I lie? I don't look like someone who just does this for fun, but how would she react if I told her I'm homeless? Would she walk away in disgust? "Eh. On and off." That works._

 _She pulled out a piece of paper. "I have a performance tonight and our guitar player is missing. Do you want to play?"_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. "Is it paid?"_

" _Of course." She pulled out a pen and paper, and a small stack of bills. "Here. Be at this address by six and I'll give you the rest."_

 _Good ol' Alexander Hamilton was staring at me from the top of the pile. My mouth started watering. "You're giving me all of this?"_

" _Mmhm." She started walking away. I thought about running after her, but my stomach started protesting. Food first. So I made my way to the finest eating establishment I could think of. McDonalds._

 _People were staring at me as I pulled out my wad of bills. "I bet he stole that."_

 _I avoided eye contact as I paid for my meal and sat down. More people seemed to stare at me and whisper while I ate._

" _Lazy bum."_

 _I struggled to swallow the bite in my mouth. Can't they just mind their business?_

" _He looks like he hasn't bathed in weeks."_

 _I snapped. "Thank you, Captain Obvious! I never would've realized, had you not said that." Good lord, that's probably the most condescending I've ever sounded._

 _The woman just stared, a startled look on her face. Slowly, she looked back down at her food. No one bothered me after that._

 _I needed to get cleaned up._

 _The bathroom had mirrors, so I made a beeline there once I finished my meal. There were whiteheads dotting my face and I was covered in a thin layer of grime. I looked like absolute shit. I turned on the sink and tried my best to wash my face, and pop any of the offending pimples. This would have to suffice until I could find a gym and bum a shower off of someone. I'd probably ask for the time too._

 _My next destination wasn't too far away; I managed to make it to the gym with only a few minutes walk. The woman at the front desk gave me a strange look as I entered._

" _Do you have a membership?" She didn't seem malicious. Just curious._

" _No, I... just want a shower. I can- I can pay," I moved to pull some money out of my back pocket, but the woman held up her hand._

" _It's fine. If anyone bothers you, tell them Julie said it was okay."_

 _I couldn't help but grin. "Th-thank you. I'm going to play a gig, and I wanted to look presentable."_

 _The woman smiled. "Well I hope you do well."_

 _I expressed my thanks once again, then went into the shower room. Luckily, there wasn't anyone around. As the water cascaded down my back, I let out a long sigh. I felt like I had more energy. My dark eyes had a bit of life behind them now. I actually looked like I wasn't half dead for once. Probably because I wasn't, but I digress._

 _I contemplated washing my clothes too, but there wasn't any way for me to dry them out. Guess I'll have to buy a second pair…_

 _I headed to Goodwill to get a somewhat nice looking outfit as cheaply as possible. There was no way I was going to waste all my money on clothes. It seemed like I was a little more welcome there as the clerk didn't even do a double take as I walked in._

 _The men's section was towards the back of the store. The racks were stuffed with old shirts of varying attractiveness. My eyes finally landed on a black leather bomber jacket. It was old, probably older than me. I couldn't help but crack a smile as a wave of nostalgia washed over me. I used to wear stuff like this all the time. Everything was so much simpler when I was younger. I'd complain about all the homework I had to do, blow all my money on the arcade down the street, stay out until dark, and then…_

 _Come home to an empty house, and eat my own dinner. Alone._

 _The nostalgia had given way to an unbearable sadness. But despite this, I couldn't bring myself to put the jacket back. I guess no one ever truly loses their rose tinted glasses..._

 _I pushed away these thoughts in favor of focusing on my chief goal. Finding an outfit. I could try to look for some skinny jeans. It wouldn't be very hard to pull off a 90's grunge look if I tried hard enough._

 _After much deliberation, I had finally pulled together a decent outfit. While the clerk was ringing up my clothes, a black hat with a flipped up brim caught my eye. It looked about as old as my jacket._

" _How much is the hat?"_

 _The clerk took it from my hands and flipped it over. "Two dollars."_

 _Two dollars. That wasn't even the cost of a full meal. "I'll take it."_

 _The clerk rang it up and gave me a receipt once I paid. I put on my old/new clothes and tried to figure out what to do until it was time to go to the show. I could probably try to earn some more money since I don't look like a bum anymore. No, I should ask someone for the time. I can't be late._

 _Why can't we have a Big Ben in America? It would make my life and many others' a lot easier. Then again, most people have a watch or some other type of device to tell the time, so maybe a giant clock would be obsolete._

 _Whatever, it's only three._

 _Everything seemed to slow to a crawl, now that I had something to look forward to. People walking down the streets kept giving me times that were only a minute apart from the last person I asked._

 _To give myself an excuse to stop waiting, I decided to head to the address a couple hours early so I could practice. I had to be as amazing as humanly possible so I'd get invited back._

 _A performance hall finally came into view. The doors were unlocked, so I walked in. People seemed to be dashing around. Some were holding props, others were in flashy costumes._

" _You're the replacement guitar player."_

 _I jumped, and spun around. An older man was looking down at me. And scowling. "S-sorry, you scared me… Y-yeah. I'm the guitar player."_

 _Wait… he didn't even ask a question. Before I could apologize again, he was walking away._

" _Follow me."_

 _I had to run to keep up with the man as he led me to a room full of other musicians. Most of them had nicer clothes than me, but they probably didn't buy their outfits at Goodwill. The girl who invited me here was absent._

 _A drummer approached me. "You're replacing Joel, right?"_

 _I hesitated. "Yes?"_

 _He slapped me on the back. "Great! Take a seat. All of us are warming up right now."_

 _There was an empty seat beside a woman playing the keyboard. I pulled out my guitar and started tuning it._

" _By the way, I'm Harrison. What's your name, kid?" The drummer was talking to me._

" _Jove."_

" _You want some of the sheet music, Jove?" The keyboardist asked me._

" _Please," I was handed a small stack of music. The notes almost seemed to come to life as the music they created started playing in my head. It was simple. Not in a bad way, just a bit minimalist. Same rhythm throughout, no time signature changes, not too many accidentals._

 _In other words, a piece of cake._

" _Alright," Harrison started tapping his drum sticks together. "One, two, three, four," the band started playing._

 _..._

 _Turns out we were performing for the Troupe Gramarye. I had never heard of them, but apparently they were famous which just made the butterflies in my stomach worse. I had never performed for more than five people in my life, and now I was expected to play in front of hundreds? Talk about an upgrade._

 _Harrison was letting me follow him around the backstage area. Occasionally, I'd trip over some piece of equipment, but he didn't seem to mind. After a few minutes, he turned around and studied my face. "Hm... try to smile a bit. You look depressed."_

 _I smiled as broad as I could manage without opening my mouth._

 _Harrison frowned. "C'mon, show a little teeth."_

 _I hesitantly pulled my lips away from my teeth, and Harrison flinched._

" _Er… never mind. Just do whatever you want." He moved his attention to a row of seats. "I gotta get my drum set. You'll be fine alone, right?"_

 _I hid my mouth with my hand and nodded. "Sure."_

 _Harrison walked away and I was left alone to look around aimlessly and feel stupid._

" _Get out of the way!" One of the cast members was carrying a huge set piece as they shoved past me. I moved to the wall to get out of the way of the other people trying to prepare the stage._

" _I find that it's better to get out of the way, too."_

 _I jumped at the sound of a new voice and turned around. Those blue eyes were smiling at me again. "Oh… yeah." My eyes darted to the ground._

" _I'm_ _Thalassa_ _." She stuck her hand out for me to shake._

 _I took it in mine. What do I say now? "That's a really pretty name…" And you blew it._

 _Thalassa smiled. "Thank you. I don't hear that often."_

 _Wait… she doesn't think I'm the most awkward human being in existence?_

" _What's your name?" She was talking to me again._

 _I stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I'm Jove." And of course my voice chose to crack right there._

" _You clean up nicely, Jove."_

 _Was that a compliment? I'll take it as a compliment… "I-I try."_

" _How long have you been playing the guitar?"_

 _And now we're small-talking. Wait, is that a word? "Since I was thirteen. Uh, how long have you been…"_

"Performing magic... I'm a performer _."_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. "You're part of the Troupe Gramarye, aren't you?"_

" _Mm hm. I've been_ _performing_ _ever since I wa_ _s a little girl_ _."_

"Thalassa _." The man who brought me to the other musicians was talking. He recognized me and frowned. I gave him an awkward wave, but only received a deeper scowl in response._

" _Yes, Father?"_ _Thalassa_ _was pulled off to the side where she and her father talked. After a few moments, they both walked away._

 _What do I do now?_

" _Hey, Jove!" Harrison had returned and was calling out to me. "We're all sitting over here," he gestured to a row of seats right in front of the stage. The rest of the musicians were already setting up when I sat down._

" _Alright guys, we start in ten." People were starting to file into the seating areas. It looked like a full house. And… the butterflies are back. The rest of the band was chattering with each other and exchanging the occasional laugh. I hugged my guitar to my chest and sank deeper into my chair._

 _Before I knew it, Harrison was tapping his sticks together, and we started playing. I looked up and caught a glimpse of Thalassa. I couldn't help but freeze for a moment or two. She looked magnificent. She was wearing a long skirt that moved with the slightest provocation. Her short hair was pinned to the side of her head with a rose-shaped hair clip, and she had makeup that brought out her eyes more than I thought possible._

 _I pulled my attention back to the music, hoping I was with the rest of the band. Occasionally, my attention would be pulled back to Thalassa and I'd stop playing for a moment. Our eyes met once, and she smiled at me. Or maybe she was just smiling at the crowd…_

 _Once the show was over, she paid me._

" _Thanks," I tipped my newly procured hat and picked up my guitar case. Before I could leave,_ _Thalassa_ _reached for my arm._

" _...Do you have anywhere to go?"_

" _I'll figure something out," I replied. "There's gotta some hotel I can afford."_

 _She hesitated for a moment. "We have an empty room you can stay in. If you want to stay, that is."_ _Thalassa_ _actually looked nervous. Did she think that I_ wouldn't _want to stay the night?_

" _I-I mean… is it okay with your Dad?" Never mind, she was right._

 _Thalassa hesitated. I had begun to utter another apology when she said, "it's fine with him. So do you want to stay?"_

" _Yeah, sure. I'll try to be as quiet as possible."_

 _A grin crossed Thalassa's face. It was brighter than any of the other polite smiles she had given me. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room."_

 _I smiled back, careful to keep my mouth closed. "Th-thanks…"_

 _Thalassa led me to the room I was going to stay in. It was pretty bare bones with just a bed and a window crammed into the tiny space. "I hope this is alright…" She said._

" _It's great. Thank you so much!" Just to show her that I was grateful, I flopped down on the bed. "I haven't slept anywhere this nice in a while."_

 _An awkward atmosphere filled the room. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep."_

 _I nodded. "Yeah, thanks… again."_

 _Thalassa turned and left, leaving me to try and get some sleep._

" _What do you mean you're letting him stay the night?"_ _Thalassa'_ _s father was shouting. "I don't care if he has nowhere else to go! That's not our problem."_

 _I curled up into a ball, trying to block out the shouting. Well this is awkward._

" _And now you're concerned that I'll wake him up._ _Thalassa_ _, you know you have to ask my permission before you just lend out rooms to strangers! What if he steals something?" There was silence;_ _Thalassa_ _was probably talking. "How can you trust someone you just met a few hours ago?"_

 _I took a deep breath. Should I leave? That might get Thalassa's father off her back…_

" _Alright, he can stay one night. But that's it. I don't want you letting him back in. You hear me?"_

 _He turned around quickly… I guess now I can get some sleep. I pulled the thin quilt up to my chin, and let out a long sigh as I was encased in a cocoon of warmth._

. . .

"Jove."

The young man looked up at the sound of his name. Thalassa was talking. "Oh, hey." Jove put aside the sheet music he was writing and looked up at his wife.

She was frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"I have something to tell you."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jove's brow creased. "What's wrong?"

Thalassa looked down, almost as if what she was about to say pained her. "I… think it's time I left."

"What?" Jove stood up and approached his wife. "You don't mean permanently… right?"

"It-it's just not working out."

"Not working out? Thalassa, what are you saying?"

"I filed for a divorce."

Jove's eyes widened and his thoughts came to a screeching halt. His vocal cords didn't seem to want to work as he struggled to say something. Finally, he choked out, "is Magnifi putting you up to this?"

Thalassa shook her head firmly. "No one's making me do this. I'm going back to the Troupe."

"You don't have to divorce me just to go back to performing magic. I'll let you do whatever you want, just please don't leave."

"I'm sorry but I made my decision a while ago."

"Is it because I'm not home enough? I can work less."

A sad look crossed Thalassa's face. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Jove clenched his hands into fists. "Obviously I've done something or else you'd still want to stay married to me."

"Please, this is already hard enough."

"'Hard enough'? You're shaking the foundation of not only my life, but our son's and yet it's hard on you?!"

There was a knock on the door. "Mommy? Daddy?"

Jove's voice softened. "What's wrong Apollo?"

"Are you and Mommy fighting again?"

Thalassa and Jove looked at each other. Thalassa said, "we're just having a disagreement. Go back to bed honey."

"Okay," Apollo's tiny footsteps made their way down the hallway and there was the sound of a door closing.

Jove took a deep breath and spoke in a hushed whisper. "If you leave, who's gonna get Apollo?"

Thalassa pressed her lips into a thin line. "We'll let him decide."

Jove wasn't sure whether she was being genuine, or was just saying that because she knew Apollo would want to live with her. Before he could further stew in his anxiety, Jove decided to speak. "Are you leaving tonight?"

"Yes, let me talk to Apollo for a minute." Thalassa slid past Jove who was still trying to comprehend what was happening.

He found himself creeping towards Apollo's room. His son was speaking, "what do you mean you're leaving?"

"Daddy and I aren't going to live together anymore."

"Why?"

"We don't love each other anymore."

 _There's no 'we' about it…_

Apollo sniffled. "Are you leaving forever?"

"You'll still see me, but yes, I'm leaving Daddy for good."

Jove slid to the floor. What had he done wrong?

Thalassa looked down at the man curled up into a ball. "Jove."

He looked up.

"I'm sor-"

"No you're not. Please, if you're going to leave, just do it now. I need to talk to Apollo." Jove stood up and knocked on his son's door.

"Hey Polly wog."

Apollo looked up. "Why don't you and Mommy love each other?"

"… I don't know."

The little boy sniffled again. "Did I do something wrong?"

Jove sat at the foot of Apollo's bed. "Of course not. None of this will never be your fault." He cupped his son's face in his hands. "Never forget that, yeah?"

Apollo nodded "Mommy says she's gonna move out, but she said I could see her too."

Jove nodded. "Your Mommy and I wanted to know who you wanted to live with."

Apollo knit his eyebrows together. "I can't see you both?"

"No no, you'll see us both, but there's one parent who you'll live with most of the time. You don't have to decide right now, you can think about it for a few days." Jove kissed his son's head. "Why don't you just go to bed, alright?"

Apollo wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded.

"Your mother and I love you, and you can't do anything to make us stop," Jove smiled. "Good night, Pollywog." He closed the door and ran a hand through his hair.

Thalassa was putting some items in a suitcase. Jove avoided eye contact as he grabbed his sheet music and his guitar, and made his way to the living room. He stared at the paper, but couldn't seem to get his brain to focus. The notes blurred together, and he couldn't seem to think of anything to add to the music.

Thalassa opened the door to their apartment. "Good bye Jove."

Jove just looked up and said nothing. His wife… ex-wife looked down and walked out.

And then he was alone. He tried to bring his attention back to the song he was working on, but his mind didn't seem to want to revert into music-mode.

After staring at the paper for a few minutes, Jove let out a shout and threw the binder holding his sheet music across the room.

 _I can't do anything right!_

He grabbed his guitar by the neck and prepared to shatter it against the wall.

"Daddy?" Apollo was standing in the hallway, looking confused and a bit scared. "What are you doing?"

Jove blinked and lowered his guitar. "Nothing. I'm just a little upset." He crouched down and picked up his binder.

Apollo sat on the couch.

Jove frowned. "And what do you think you're doing, little man?

"I can't sleep."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you think sitting in the living room will make you sleepy?"

Apollo grinned. "Play me something!"

Jove sighed. "Apollo, go to bed."

The little boy frowned and climbed into his father's lap. "Where's Mommy gonna live?"

Jove thought for a moment. "Probably with Grandpa."

"Can we visit them sometimes?" There was a spark of excitement behind Apollo's eyes that Jove felt bad about dousing.

"I don't think Grandpa likes me very much..."

Apollo frowned. "Why not?"

"I dunno. But what I do know is there's a little boy that has school tomorrow and needs to go to bed."

"Can I _please_ stay up a little longer?" Apollo was pouting.

"Nope, you've already been up late enough. You need to get some sleep."

"Fine..." Apollo plodded back to his room.

Jove smiled until his son rounded the corner. The events of the past half hour had taken such a toll on him that a headache had begun to form in the front of his head. He wanted to believe that against all odds, him and Thalassa could get back together, but after all this heartache, Jove wondered if Thalassa coming back wouldn't just make him sadder.

He made his way back to his room. Thalassa's bedside table was empty except for an unlit lamp. He put his guitar case in the corner and threw his binder on the newly vacant table.

Thalassa hadn't taken any of the pictures, so various frames were scattered around the room. Jove looked at one that was on his nightstand. He was smiling as a newborn Apollo reached a little hand out to touch Jove's nose.

Tears had begun to run down his face. He couldn't lose Apollo too.

 _There's some beer in the refrigerator…_

Jove sighed as he climbed into bed. He didn't want to drink himself to complete numbness just yet.

He had to take Apollo to school tomorrow.

. . .

 _I was standing in front of the high school Thalassa went to._

"Meet me after school tomorrow."

 _An address had been handed to me, along with a time. So here I am waiting for the final bell and hoping security doesn't tell me to stop loitering._

 _Finally the final bell rang and a steady stream of kids poured out. Thalassa finally appeared. She smiled and grabbed my wrist. "I have to show you something!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Thalassa darted through the crowds of people, pulling me along behind her. After a few minutes, we arrived in front of a diner. "They have the best root beer floats here!" She had explained. We were led to a booth and I sat down. Surprisingly, Thalassa took a seat next to me._

 _My cheeks started heating up. "You don't want to sit across from me?" I asked._

 _"No,"_

 _A waiter walked up and Thalassa ordered one float. "I never finish one on my own," she explained with a smile._

 _Is she doing this to mess with me?_

 _"How'd you get to my school so quickly? Does your school let out earlier?"_

 _I ran a hand through my hair and stifled a nervous laugh. Luckily, Thalassa couldn't see how uncomfortable I was._

 _"Is that an uncomfortable topic? I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine."_

 _How did she know? "It's fine. I uh, dropped out of high school last year."_

 _Thalassa turned to face me, her head cocked to the side. "How come?"_

 _"It's really…_ really _complicated."_

 _Before Thalassa could say anymore, a gargantuan glass was placed between us, along with two straws. "Enjoy," the waiter said._

 _When we were about halfway finished with our float, Thalassa said, "I could never imagine dropping out of school. I had to beg my father to let me go to public school in the first place."_

 _"Did you go to a private school before?"_

 _Thalassa shook her head. "No, I was home schooled. I just started this school year, but I already love it. I don't have any friends, but that's okay." She took a sip from the float. "Well, I guess I do now. Do you have any friends? I'd love to meet them!"_

 _"I… used too. Then I dropped out, and everyone just went on without me."_

 _A small frown crossed Thalassa's face. "Well now you have a friend too."_

 _I smiled. "Yeah, I guess I do."_

 _Once we finished the rest of the float, the waiter handed us a check. I moved to pull out the money I had just been paid yesterday, but Thalassa held up a hand._

 _"I invited you here, so I should pay."_

 _I opened my mouth to insist I paid, but Thalassa had already placed the bills on the table and started walking out. "Hey, wait up!" I called. "Where are you going?"_

 _"We're gonna go to my home."_

 _I creased my brow. "I thought your dad didn't want me hanging around there..."_

 _"He said that you couldn't stay the night again, but he never said you couldn't stay for dinner." Thalassa winked._

 _"Wow, I'm being treated to ice cream and dinner. What did I do to deserve that?"_

 _"I figured you needed something more nutritious than McDonalds."_

 _I creased my brow. "How did you..."_

 _"I saw you running down the street."_

 _Oh god she saw that… I laughed nervously. "Yeah, that wasn't one of my prouder moments."_

 _Thalassa smiled sweetly despite my fidgeting around. "Well the past is in the past. C'mon, dinner's gonna be ready soon."_

 _Once again I was dragged through the streets by a girl that seemed a bit too excited about everything. I mean, who loves school? It's an absolute Hellhole filled with douche bags that don't care about learning and want to make everyone pay for their boredom. And Thalassa actually liked to be there? Maybe her school was different, or she's just more tolerant than I._

 _My face slammed into a pole, and I let out a grunt that was very becoming of me. Thalassa was pulled back due to the impact and turned to face me._

 _"Are you alright?" She had me by the arms, a concerned look on her face. "You don't have a concussion do you?"_

 _"Ugh, no… I'm fine." I tried to shrug off Thalassa's grip, but she just frowned and tightened her hold on my arms._

 _"You're sure you're not feeling dizzy?"_

 _"I'm positive. Now let go of me; people are staring." Indeed people were watching as Thalassa and I had a small episode on a populated street corner._

 _"They're probably as concerned as I am about whether or not you have a concussion."_

 _I sighed. "I don't have a concussion. Let's just go to your house okay?"_

 _Thalassa frowned, but finally relented. "Alright, fine. But if you pass out, it's not my fault."_

 _"I'll keep that in mind."_

 _We finally arrived at the performance hall I had just left a few hours ago. "You live here?"_

 _"Mm hm!" She opened the door, and turned to the left._

 _"Isn't there just a wall-"_

 _With a flick of her wrist, a section of the wall spun to reveal a staircase. Before I could react, Thalassa had grabbed my hand and was pulling me up the stairs._

 _"How the_ hell _did you do that?" I breathed._

 _Thalassa stopped and with a flourish of her hands whispered, "magic."_

 _Okay then. Guess we're just gonna keep going…_

 _We entered what looked like a living room. Scattered around the place were various magic props along with a couple cages of rabbits and doves._

 _"Wow, this place is very… lively."_

 _"I know, isn't it great? C'mon, I'll show you to the dinning room. Dinner should be ready soon."_

 _We had to walk through the kitchen to get to the dinning room. This wouldn't have been a problem except for one thing. Thalassa's father was the one cooking dinner._

 _"That's the street rat you dragged in yesterday." He was once again frowning at me._

 _I laughed nervously. "I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a rat..."_

 _Thalassa stepped in front of me."I invited Jove to stay for dinner. Is it almost ready?"_

 _Her father looked at the time. "Yeah. Go sit down."_

 _Thalassa smiled; there seemed to be a hint of triumph in her eyes. "You can sit beside me, Jove."_

 _I nodded as Thalassa took a seat. "He's not gonna try to kill me is he?" I whispered._

 _" I won't let him." Thalassa replied as she poured water into my cup. "Lemon?"_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. "Lemon?"_

 _"For your water silly!"_

 _Oh. "Uh, sure..."_

 _Thalassa dropped a couple slices in my cup._

 _"Thanks." I took a sip. Not bad._

 _"Why don't you put your guitar case against the wall? It's taking up a bit of room." Thalassa suggested._

 _I looked down. My case was pushing again mine and Thalassa's legs. "Yeah, you're right." I propped it against the wall behind me._

 _Thalassa's father entered the room with what looked like a ham. I waited for him and Thalassa to take what they wanted before I grabbed anything._

 _"So do you just wander around all day, or do you do something that's actually productive?" Thalassa's father was talking to me._

 _"Well, I try to earn enough money to keep my heart beating. I'd count that as productive." I responded, a frown beginning to form on my face._

 _"You mean you beg."_

 _"Father," Thalassa was frowning. "Jove is our guest, so I would appreciate it if you left him alone."_

 _Another frown from her father._

 _"Would you like some salad Jove?"_

 _I nodded and received a small bowl of lettuce. "Thanks," I muttered._

 _We ate dinner in silence. Thalassa squeezed my hand under the table and whispered an apology to me. I forced a smile, and tried to take another bite of my salad. But my stomach didn't seem to want anymore food no matter how hard I tried to force another bite down. I placed my napkin on my plate and took a nervous sip of my water._

 _"So now you're not even going-"_

 _Thalassa gave her father a sharp look._

 _"Nothing."_

 _Once everyone was done eating and Thalassa and I cleared the table, I picked up my guitar case and turned towards the door. "Thank you for the food Mr..."_

 _"Gramarye," Thalassa said._

 _"Mr. Gramarye. Dinner was delicious."_

 _Her father nodded as I opened the door._

 _"See you tomorrow, Jove!" Thalassa called._

 _I nodded and walked out of the room. A smile started to creep up my face as I walked down the stairs._

 _God she's nice…_

. . .

"Bye Pollywog! I'll pick you up after school, okay?" Jove forced a smile one his face.

Apollo replied with a tired nod -he was always like this when he didn't go to bed on time- and walked up the steps to his school.

Jove let out a long sigh and took off down the streets.

 _Time to break the news to the guys..._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Yo, Jove!" Anna smiled until she saw the look on Jove's face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Thalassa broke up with me last night..."

"Holy shit!" Johann exclaimed. "I thought you two were like this!" He crossed his index and middle fingers.

Jove set his guitar case on the floor. "I did too until she packed up and left in the dead of the night."

"She didn't take Apollo, did she? Anna asked. "Because between you and me, Apollo seemed to like you more."

"Anna!" Nate exclaimed. "Don't say stuff like that."

"What? I'm just expressing my honest opinion." Anna leaned against a table. "Well?"

"I'm not sure yet. Thalassa said we're gonna let Apollo decide."

"Pff, then you're a shoo-in." She said. "That kid clings to you like Velcro."

Jove smiled. "Thanks Anna. Now enough about me. Let's start working. I have to pick Apollo up at three."

He pulled out the slightly wrinkled sheet music for the piece they were working on. The band had to arrange an instrumental cover of some power ballad that was going to be played at a wedding.

"Y'know, after a while all these power ballads sound the same." Anna remarked as she oiled the valves of her trumpet.

"Well, there is a formula to these things." Jove replied.

Anna sighed. "I guess. It's still annoying."

"You think everything's annoying," Johann remarked.

"Well with people like you walking the Earth, I have ample reason!"

Johann prepared to throw his drumstick at Anna when Jove stepped in.

"Alright, break it up you two," he said. "You're about as distracted as I was last night."

Anna burst out laughing while the other two men stared at Jove, their mouths agape.

"I can't tell whether I should say 'too soon' or not." Johann managed to say.

Jove smiled with his mouth closed. "I tell jokes to hide the pain."

Nate patted Jove's shoulder. "We all do."

. . .

Jove received a call during lunch. "Hello? This is Jove Justice speaking."

"Hello Mr. Justice. This is Mindy Young. I'm Apollo's teacher."

 _You've been teaching my child for half a year now. Of course I know who you are._

"I was calling to tell you that Apollo's having a bit of a bad day."

Jove knit his eyebrows together. "What's goin' on?"

"During lunch, Apollo started crying about missing you. I was wondering if anything was going on at home?"

"Yeah, my wife and I split up last night."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. But Apollo went to bed later than usual, so he's probably just tired. Does he want me to come down there?"

The line was silent for a few moments. Ms. Young was probably talking to Apollo. "If you could that would be wonderful."

"I'll be there soon. Thank you for calling me Ms. Young." Jove hung up. "I have to pick Apollo up early. I'll be back in about half an hour."

The other band mates said goodbye and Jove got into his car.

 _I didn't think Thalassa and I splitting up hit Apollo this hard. I'll have to ask Thalassa to talk to him and make sure he's okay…_

Jove was greeted with a hug from Apollo when he arrived at his school. "Hey little man! How're you feeling?"

There were still the remnants of tears on Apollo's face but he just wiped his eyes and shrugged. "Okay..."

"Let's get you something cold to drink, yeah? Then you can hang out with me and my band mates."

Apollo seemed to perk up a little at this. He wiped his eyes and looked out the back seat window.

 _How do I talk to Apollo? I don't want to make him start crying again, but he needs to know that his father's there_ _for him…_

"...It's okay to cry." Why had he said that?

"Hm?" Apollo seemed to be wondering the same thing.

 _Guess I just have to run with it now._

"If you're sad, it's okay to let others know. When you tell someone, they can help you. If… if you need help, you can always talk to your mother or me about these problems. We won't get mad. Okay?"

Apollo nodded and Jove drove back to his studio. Anna was there to greet them.

"Aw, there's my favorite mascot!"

Apollo frowned. "I'm not your mascot!"

"You're not? So we bought the special mascot chair for nothing?" Anna gestured to a swivel stool. Apollo's eyes widened.

"I wanna sit on it!"

"Only the mascot gets to sit on the special mascot stool."

Apollo crossed his arms.

"Anna, leave him alone." Jove said. "Apollo, you can sit on the special mascot stool."

"Yay!" Apollo hopped onto the stool and spun around.

"Alright, now that Apollo's taken care of, let's get back to work. That power ballad isn't going to write itself." Jove picked up his guitar.

Apollo stopped spinning, and rolled over to sit next to his father. "What's a power ballad?" He asked.

"It's a really sappy rock song about how much you love someone." Anna said. "It's perfect for weddings."

"Did you and Mommy play a power ballad at your wedding?"

All the other band members except Jove tensed up. "No, we played 'Banditos' by the Refreshments. You've listened to it in the car." Jove sung a couple lines from the chorus and a flash of recollection crossed Apollo's face.

"Oh yeah, I remember! I like that song." He said. "I like the one about Mexico too." Apollo hummed the chorus.

Jove smiled. "My son has very good taste in music." He said. "Let's try to get back to work… again."

There was a lot of moaning from Anna about how much she hated the song. Once it was done, the band let out a collective sigh.

"I can't wait until our album gets published and we won't have to do this anymore." Johann said.

"You called the record dealer, right Jove?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, he's giving us three months to release a demo."

"Looks like we need to get to working on it," Anna said.

"I wanna help!" Apollo stood on his tip-toes to peek over the table.

"I don't think you-"

Jove cut Anna off. "You can listen to our songs and tell us whether it's good or not. That alright with you, Pollywog?"

Apollo nodded and started spinning around in the special mascot stool. "I'll be the best listener ever!"

"I'm counting on you!"

Apollo told them everything was perfect even though the song was still extremely rusty, but at least he felt like he was doing something.

The band started packing up at six.

"See you tomorrow." Jove picked up a dozing Apollo, and carried him to the car.

"Can we do that every day?" Apollo was half-asleep.

"That's the plan." Jove replied as he snapped his son into the car seat.

"I wanna live with you, Daddy."

Jove hid his smile. This is great! But… "Why don't you visit your mother before you decide?" Why is he saying this? "I don't want you to make an important decision without seeing all your choices."

Apollo nodded slowly. "I love you Daddy." And then he was asleep again.

Jove smiled. "I love you too, Apollo."

. . .

 _"What kind of music do you listen to?" Thalassa and I were sitting outside the steps to her school._

 _I smiled. "Well, there's this one band that I listened to all the time."_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _"What band is it? I might've heard of them." Thalassa said._

 _"I love The Refreshments. Have you heard of them?" I said._

 _"No, I haven't. Do you have any of their CD's?"_

 _"I used to. I couldn't carry all my CD's around with me on the streets. I wish I had kept their first album though..."_

 _A thoughtful frown crossed Thalassa's face. "Why don't we check out a CD store? They're bound to have something, right?"_

 _"Oh yeah! There's a CD store I used to go to. Let's check there."_

 _I led the way to Cd's CDs. I was greeted once I opened the door._

 _"Hey, it's my favorite customer! Haven't seen you in a while Jove." Cd said._

 _"My family moved a while ago, and I couldn't come here. Hope it didn't hurt your profits too much, but I'm back now."_

 _"Well take a look around. I got some new stuff since you left," Cd ducked under the counter_

 _"Actually, we're looking for a Refreshments album. You got any in stock?"_

 _"As a matter of fact, I do." Cd pulled a box out from under the counter. I was just about to get rid of all the old albums since no one was buying them."_

 _I smiled. "Well, I've always prided myself on my convenient timing."_

 _Cd smirked and handed Thalassa the album. "That'll be six dollars."_

 _Thalassa pulled out a wallet and placed the money in Cd's hand._

 _"Thank you, thank you." He said._

 _She slipped the Cd into her purse and we both walked out. "Why did you lie to him?"_

 _I shrugged. "I just...don't want everyone to know I'm a pathetic human being."_

 _Thalassa placed a delicate hand on my shoulder. "You're not pathetic."_

 _"Please, I wander the streets begging for money. I can't even sleep because I'm afraid someone's going to kill me. I look like shit and I feel like it too!"_

 _Before I could spiral deeper into my emotional breakdown, Thalassa held me by my shoulders. "When do you turn 18?"_

 _I sniffled. "Why?"_

 _"Answer the question."_

 _"April."_

 _"Good. My birthday's in March. Once I graduate, we're going to share an apartment."_

 _The urge to cry returned. "N-no… you don't have to do that."_

 _"Yes I do. It's not healthy to live in constant fear. So we're gonna get a lease, and you're gonna have somewhere safe to sleep."_

 _"Why do you care so much?"_

 _Thalassa looked surprised. "Because I want you to be safe." She wrapped me in a tight hug. "You're my best friend."_

 _My face started burning up. "This is probably the most non-hostile human contact I've had in a year."_

 _Thalassa let go of me and started laughing. "You're hilarious."_

 _I swallowed. "I was being serious."_

 _Thalassa draped an arm around my shoulders. "Well in that case, I guess I'll have to 'non-hostally' touch you some more."_

 _A small smile crept onto my face. "I won't complain."_

 _"Good."_

 _My stomach started growling._

 _Thalassa's face lit up. "That reminds me! My father and I are putting on another performance in a couple days. We're going to need music. Wanna play? It's paid of course."_

 _"Uh… should I ask why me being hungry reminded you about a gig I could play?"_

 _"You looked hungry when I invited you to the first performance."_

 _My gaze fell to the ground. "Did I look that terrible?"_

 _Thalassa's eyes widened. "Oh, I just made you seem pathetic… I didn't mean it like that. Y-you looked tired and your face was really skinny and… I don't think you're pathetic."_

 _"It's fine, really." A small laugh escaped my lips. "I tend to look like a raccoon when I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in a while, but I've been doing alright recently."_

 _Thalassa managed a smile. "So you do have a sense of humor."_

 _"Eh, turning myself into a joke makes it easier to deal with the fact that my life's kinda shit at the moment. But… I've been doing better recently. Actually having food in my stomach helps a lot."_

 _Thalassa thought for a moment. "I could probably convince my father to let you stay in the guest room..."_

 _My eyes widened. "Oh, no… I don't want to intrude. Besides I can't imagine your father doing anything for me. He looked like he wanted to kill me just because he was feeding me."_

 _"He won't mind."_

 _I pressed my lips in a straight line, debating my next words."Pardon me but, are you insane? He treats me like dirt."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "He treats everyone like dirt."_

 _"Well then he treats me worse then dirt. I'm not going to stay in the guest room. No matter how much you try to convince me. It's just too stressful, okay?"_

 _Thalassa nodded slowly. "Okay, I understand. You're not upset, are you? Because you seem upset."_

 _"I'm fine. Do you want to get something to eat? I can pay if we keep it cheap."_

 _Thalassa studied my face for a few moments, then nodded. "I suppose, but can I pay for myself. It's no problem at all."_

 _I help up my hand. "You paid for me, so now it's my turn to pay for you."_

 _"Do you have enough to eat tomorrow?"_

 _I shrugged. "Does it matter?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _If I tell her that I won't have any money, she'll insist on paying for herself… But when I looked up at her, Thalassa's eyes were filled with such a look of genuine concern that I couldn't bring myself to lie to her. "I won't, but I'm used to going a few days without food."_

 _"I can't let you go hungry."_

 _I knew she'd say that. "Can I please do something nice for you? You've done so much for me, but what have I done? Nothing. Just this one time. Let me buy you dinner."_

 _Thalassa held my gaze, but finally nodded. "Okay."_

. . .

Friday rolled around and Thalassa arrived to pick Apollo up.

"Hey Thalassa, can I talk to you for a moment?" Jove asked.

"Alright," Thalassa looked concerned. "Is everything okay?"

Jove rubbed the back of his neck. "That's… a complicated question to answer."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Earlier in the week, Apollo had a bit of a meltdown at school."

Thalassa's eyes widened. "Is he okay? What was wrong?"

"I think the whole… us splitting up thing took a bit of a toll on Apollo. I'd really appreciate it if you could talk to him, and just tell him that everything's gonna be okay."

Thalassa nodded. "I'll talk to him."

Jove smiled. "Thanks, so uh… Apollo's gonna be gone for how long?"

"Two nights. I'll bring him home around two if that's alright."

"Yeah, that's great."

Thalassa smiled down at Apollo. "Are you ready to go?"

Apollo grinned that toothy grin of his as he nodded. "Bye Daddy!"

"Bye Pollywog! See you Sunday."

The two left Jove in his apartment. It was much more tense now that he was alone. He found himself almost missing the constant drone of the TV or the sound of Apollo acting out the stories floating around in his head. Never had the quiet felt so stifling.

Jove pulled out his phone and dialed Johann.

"Hello?"

"Johann, Apollo left and now I'm alone. We should get the rest of the band and go to a bar."

Johann sighed. "Please tell me you're not gonna make this a weekly thing."

"No, I just wasn't expecting the quiet to stress me but..."

Johann sighed. "Alright, alright. You call Anna, and we'll all meet there."

"Thank you!" Jove hung up and changed out of his old t-shirt and jeans.

 _I haven't hung out with the band outside of work recently anyway… We could use a break from working for a night._

And so Jove continued to justify his separation anxiety as he drove down to the bar him and his friends occasionally frequented. Everyone else was already seemed to be there.

"We haven't done this in a while." Nate said.

Jove laughed nervously. "Yeah… I figured we deserved a little break, y'know?"

Nate and Anna walked inside while Jove pulled Johann outside. "Thanks for not telling them I'm a clingy mess."

Johann shrugged. "I figured you wouldn't like that fact advertised to the world."

"You know me so well."

"Well I've known you for a while. Your little quirks are old news to me."

Jove nodded. "True, true," and the two walked in.

"I'm buying the first round." Nate announced.

"Oh get me a margarita, would ya babe?" Anna asked.

Nate nodded. "How 'bout you Jove?"

"A mojito would be great."

"Johann?"

Johann thought for a moment, then a daring look crossed his face. "Surprise me."

"Ooh, someone's got a death wish." Anna snickered then whispered something to Nate who shook his head.

Johann looked to the side, then nudged Jove. "I think that guy's checking me out."

Jove followed Johann's gaze to see a man looking at their table. "Go talk to 'im."

"I can't just 'go talk to him'. I gotta be tactful. I mean, what if he isn't interested?"

"Well guess you don't have to wonder..."

The man got up and approached Jove. "Hey man, you got change for a five?"

Johann let out a low, disappointed sigh as Jove pulled out his wallet.

"Here you go,"

"Thanks!"

"Got my hopes up and everything."

Anna patted Johann's shoulder. "This place is full of dudes. There's gotta be at least one that can stand to look at your ugly mug."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ann."

Anna shrugged. "I found my guy that way. Isn't that right, Nate?"

The other man nodded as he placed the drinks down on the table. "Margarita for the lady, mojito for the Jove, and a regular ol' beer for the Johann. I didn't want to be too crazy so I played it safe."

"I told him to get you the grossest sounding thing on the menu, but Nate said that would be a waste of money." Anna rolled her eyes.

"Well we're not exactly rich at the moment..." Nate took a sip from his cocktail. "Once you're rolling in dough you can buy all the shitty drinks you want."

Anna grinned. "When our album takes off I will."

"Remind me to _never_ let you get the drinks." Johann muttered as he took a swig of his beer.

Jove just sat back and drank his mojito while everyone talked. He wanted to say something, but there just never seemed to be anything worthwhile to say.

"You've been quiet, Jove. Something on your mind?" Anna asked.

He shook his head. "It's just… Apollo's with Thalassa for the weekend and I don't know what to do now. I'm so used to him moving around that now an empty apartment freaks me out."

"You get used to it after a while." Johann muttered. "After a few weeks you'll just accept the fact that your ex isn't coming back, and you at least learn to deal with being alone."

Jove nodded slowly. "I guess..."

A song started playing and Anna's face lit up."Ooh, c'mon Nate! I love this song."

And then Jove and Johann were alone.

"Y'know… I'm not sure whether to be jealous of Nate because he has a girlfriend, or pitying him because he's dating Anna."

Jove shrugged. "I think the only reason she's mean to us is because we know she's not serious. I mean, she doesn't treat Apollo that way."

The two looked over at Anna and Nate. They were slow dancing to an otherwise fast song. Anna was leaning her head on Nate's chest.

Johann ran his finger along the lip of his beer can. "They look so happy." He remarked.

Jove nodded and downed the last gulps of his mojito. When he looked back, his gaze fell on the small outline of a box in Nate's back pocket. Jove nudged Johann. "You see that?"

The other man squinted. "Yeah… wait, you don't think-"

Nate pulled it out and got down on one knee.

"Oh my god he's doing it..." Johann said as his and Jove's gazes met. "Jove, he's doing it!"

Anna looked surprised, then averted her gaze to the ground. Her lips formed words that neither man could hear.

Nate didn't seem too thrilled.

"What did she say?" Jove's grip had tightened around his glass.

Nate and Anna walked back to the table. "I-I'm sorry… I'm just not ready." Anna said.

"Is it me?" Nate looked crushed.

"No! No, of course not. I can't imagine being with anyone else."

"...What happened?" Johann asked.

Anna and Nate exchanged a look. "Nate proposed to me and… I told him I wasn't ready."

Johann knit his eyebrows together. "Why?"

Anna bristled. "I'm just not ready okay? Why can't you just respect that?"

Johann held out both of his hands as a sort of protective measure. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off."

Nate stepped in. "Anna and I are going to head home so we can talk a little bit. We'll catch you later, okay?"

Jove and Johann watched their band mates leave. "Looks like no one's relationships are going well..." Jove remarked.

Johann knocked back his head and downed the beer. When he looked back, Anna had returned.

"I almost forgot." She started chugging her margarita.

"Uh… Anna, you're drinking that really fast are-" Johann started.

The glass slammed down on the table. "Ah, it hurts so good." She picked up Nate's drink and downed that as well. "Bye guys," and then she was gone.

"She just downed two drinks without a second thought." Johann muttered.

Jove nodded slowly. "Yes she just did."

"Should we be surprised?"

"No we should not."

. . .

 _My stomach was growling, and my pockets were empty. The biting hunger seemed a bit more vicious now that I had been spoiled with consistent meals for a week or two. I was busy counting down the hours to Thalassa's performance when two thugs walked up to me._

 _"Hey shitstain, give us all your cash."_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _My gaze met theirs._ _One of them was holding a knife and the other had his fists curled_ _in_ _a way that suggested they were ready to swing at any moment._

 _"I don't have any money." I hissed through grit teeth. "Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere I need to be." I tried to walk by but Fists blocked my way._

 _"What's in the case?" He asked._

 _I set my jaw. "Nothing of value."_

 _Knife brandished his weapon. As if I hadn't seen it before. "Open it."_

 _I narrowed my eyes. "Now why would I-"_

 _Fists kneed me in the stomach._

 _I panicked and swung my guitar case into his head. Fists fell to the ground with a thud. Knife stared down, aghast._

 _"The hell did you do?!" Knife was glaring daggers- no pun intended- at me. "I'm gonna paint the walls with your blood!"_

 _Before any of the aforementioned painting could occur, I took off down the street. Knife seemed dazed for a few seconds, but soon started running after me._

 _There was an obvious energy advantage on his side; his stomach seemed to be full, while I on the other hand, was running on an empty tank that was made worse by an unwanted knee to the stomach. If I didn't find a place to hide soon, I'd be done for…_

 _A familiar store whizzed by. Then another, and one more. I was on my way to the performance hall- Thalassa's home. There's no way Knife would be able to find me in that kind of a crowd._

 _"You can't run forever!" Knife was catching up. Just a few more turns and I'd be home free._

 _Harrison was walking into the performance hall. "Hey Jove-"_

 _"I'm being chased by some dude with a knife. Help."_

 _Harrison looked down at my case. "Hit 'em with that."_

 _"I already did that."_

 _Harrison shrugged. "Do it again. I can step in and call the police."_

 _There wasn't any time to argue. Knife's shouts were becoming louder with every second. Finally, he rounded the corner. "Nowhere to run now! Huh punk?" His eyes landed on mine and his scowl deepened._

 _"I've already got someone calling the police. Walk away, and you don't have to get in trouble."_

 _"Well you bashed my friend's brains in! You think I'm just gonna ignore that?"_

 _"I wouldn't have had to knock him out if you hadn't tried to mug me. Did you forget about that part?"_

 _Knife took a step forward. "You wanna argue some more, or do you wanna finish this like adults?"_

 _"I'd rather do neither and let the police handle this." Sirens sounded in the distance. "Oh look, I can hear them now."_

 _Knife looked in the direction of the sirens, then back at me, a reluctant resignation crossed his face. "You win this time punk, but you're not gonna be able to hide behind others when I get to you!" And then he was gone._

 _"Wow I didn't even call the police yet." Harrison remarked. "You're pretty impressive."_

 _I smirked, "thanks. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get warmed up._

 _Thalassa met me inside. "I saw you running. Are you okay?"_

 _I shrugged. "Some thugs tried to mug me, but I chased them off."_

 _"Is that blood on your case?"_

 _I looked in the direction Thalassa was pointing and saw a red splotch on the corner of my case. A nervous laugh escaped me. "Yeah… I might've clocked one of them in the head. "I'll just…" I wiped it off with the corner of my sleeve. "There, all better."_

 _"They're not going to threaten you again, are they?"_

 _"Dunno. Hopefully I can keep my distance, and they'll keep theirs, y'know?"_

 _"I don't, but I'll take your word for it." Thalassa still looked worried sick. I wanted to ease her fears, but there was nothing in the world that could convince me to sleep in Thalassa's guest room. Not with her father breathing down my neck. So right now, I just squeezed her hand like she had done for me._

 _"We'll be turning 18 soon, and once we do, we can share an apartment. Just… try not to worry about me, yeah?"_

 _"You promise me you'll try to stay out of trouble?" Thalassa was dead serious._

 _"Cross my heart." I even added the little hand motion thing to show that I too, was serious._

 _"Okay well… we have to practice before the show."_

 _"Um… did you like the CD?" I stared down at the ground, kicking it with my foot._

 _"Mm hm. It's a little vulgar, but it's nothing I can't handle."_

 _I smiled. "Yeah, my parents hated it, but that just make me want to listen more, y'know? Reverse psychology and... such." I let out a nervous laugh. Why did I bring up my parents?_

 _"Oh well… I don't think it's that bad."_

 _"Well my parents thought a lot of things that weren't 'that bad' were corrupting influences or some shit." Stop talking Jove! "But enough about that. I'll see you during your performance, yeah?"_

 _Thalassa smiled. "Well, break a leg."_

 _I shot a couple finger-guns her way. "Right back at ya." I turned around and started making my way to the room I practiced in a few weeks ago, but ran into Thalassa's father. "H-hello Mr. Gramarye." I had to crane my neck to look him in the eyes. "Are you looking forward to your performance?"_

 _"I don't like you hanging around with my daughter." He said gruffly._

 _How do I respond to that? "Oh." Smooth."I-I'm not trying to hang around Thalassa. She asks me to hang out with her…"_

 _This didn't seem to satisfy Thalassa's father. "Leave my daughter alone."_

 _"Hey Jove! You comin' to practice?" Harrison called out. "We're all getting together to practice."_

 _"I'll be right there!" I picked up my case and moved to leave, but was stopped by Mr. Gramarye's glare. With yet another nervous laugh, I slowly inched away, hoping he wouldn't eat me alive. After a few steps, I turned around and followed Harrison to the practice room._

 _Seems like my assumptions about Thalassa's father were right._

. . .

Jove was alone for the rest of the weekend. He didn't dare try inviting the band out to a bar again in fear of creating even more tension. So he was alone in his apartment, left to fend for himself for another day.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There were so many photos of him with Thalassa and Apollo back when they were still happy. Or maybe Thalassa was faking it. Jove hadn't expected that she was going to leave. He imagined that if a couple was on the verge of a divorce, there'd be some kind of sign that it was going to happen. Sure, they fought, but what couple didn't? A small part of Jove couldn't help but blame himself for what happened. Thalassa probably thought his dreams of making a career out of music were childish, that it was just a pipe dream – something he could never dream of accomplishing- and they both knew this, but didn't have to heart to say out loud.

Jove looked over at the various CDs he had sitting on a rack on the other side of the room. How much money had he wasted on his stupid hobby? Hell, he was leasing a building to do what? Arrange some music that he could just as easily arrange from home? Thalassa had to get a god damn job to support Jove's sorry ass since commissions didn't pay enough to support their family. She was probably tired of having to support a child and a man who was acting like one.

 _A burden. That's all I've ever been._

And now Jove wanted to take care of Apollo on top of not being able to take care of himself. He'd get a little child support from Thalassa, but it wouldn't be enough to live off of. Hence the name child _support_. Jove had to get his act together quickly.

There was the sound of his phone buzzing on his nightstand. Johann was calling, but Jove was too busy wallowing in his self hatred to bother answering.

Speaking of his band mates, what would he tell them? They depended on the album doing well as much as he did. Could he really just pull the rug out from under them? That wouldn't be fair, would it?

Jove pulled out a six pack of beer from the refrigerator. Evaluating all of his life choices up to this point was really starting to burn him out to the max. Alcohol seemed to be the only thing that listened to his pain. And the more Jove consumed it, the more willing he was to confide in it.

Before he could open his third can, there was a knock on the door.

 _They can wait. It's probably a telemarketer anyway._

"Jove open the door! I saw your car parked outside." Anna was shouting from outside his apartment.

 _Maybe if I just ignore her, she'll go away._

"Jove c'mon man!" And now Johann was knocking. "We're not leaving 'til you open up!"

Still, Jove did not move. This was a battle of endurance, and he would _not_ lose.

"I'll use your spare key." Nate had pulled out his trump card. It was only a matter of time until Jove had to talk to them so it might as well be on his own terms.

"What do you want?" He called out. His words seemed to slur a bit.

"Did you drink too much?" Johann called out. "We just went to a bar yesterday!"

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours."

"You didn't answer my call and I got worried. There, are you happy?"

"Very."

"Now can you open the door?" Anna called out. "It's freezing out here!"

Jove set down his unopened beer and let his friends in.

"Hey, there he is!" Nate was smiling.

"You seem depressed." Anna remarked. "Is the whole divorce thing finally gettin' to ya?"

Jove shrugged. "I've just been contemplating my whole life up to this point."

Johann let out a stream of air. "That's always fun."

"And I've just been wondering if the whole music thing is something that can be turned into a career, y'know?"

The other band members exchanged a nervous look. Anna frowned as she said, "we've been working on this album for years! And now you just want to throw all that hard work away?"

"And that's the problem. We've been working on this for years and no one wants to pick it up!"

"Well, that one label is giving us a chance." Nate said. "If we submit something they like, we could finally get off the ground."

"But what about all the other labels that turned us down? What makes this one any different?"

Johann placed a hand on Jove's shoulder. "Look, I know it seems like nothing's going to work out, but you just need to push through those doubts. At least this label's interested in picking us up. We'll just submit a demo and take it from there."

"But what if they don't like our stuff?" Jove had flopped down onto the sofa and was eyeing the beer he had abandoned.

"Then we'll move on to another label. There's gotta be at least one that likes our stuff."

Anna swiped the beer right before Jove went to grab it and started chugging it. "Besides I don't think you're qualified enough to be able to get another job. Like it or not, you're stuck with us," she said once the can was empty.

Jove drummed his fingers on the couch arm. "Thanks for reminding me that I'm a failure in more ways than one, Anna."

Anna shrugged. "If we're being honest, all of us are. Sll of us dropped out of college, and I'm pretty sure Johann lives under a bridge."

"I have an apartment, thank you very much."

"Yeah, under a bridge."

Jove couldn't help but snicker. Anna and Johann argued like children, but at least they were amusing while doing so. Once the two were done with their barrage of insults, Jove spoke up, "so Johann, why'd you call in the first place? You couldn't possibly be inviting us all out after last night."

"Funny enough, I was going to call about scheduling extra time to work on our album. We have to submit a demo in a few months so I figured it would be beneficial if we met sometime during the weekend to get a little extra work on it."

"Yeah, we definitely need to get together a bit more often. Might as well do it on Friday. It seems like we're all free then." Nate said.

Johann nodded slowly, then eyed the half drunk six pack sitting on the coffee table. "Do we need to talk about your alcohol consumption?"

Jove frowned. "You're talking to me like I'm a child."

"It's just that you've gone through a life changing and emotionally taxing event, and sometimes situational depression can occur-"

"Well… what about Anna, huh? She's been drinking a lot and you aren't being critical of her!"

"Hey, I'm not going through a stressful event. Besides, I saw you eyeing that beer. I was just making sure you didn't drink it."

Jove rolled his eyes.

"Look, when you lose someone close to you, even if they're not really dead, you grieve, and grieving can lead to depression. I should know. But the way to fix it isn't drinking yourself into oblivion."

Jove frowned. "Alright, Dr. Phil. Solve all of my problems." He held out his arms. "I'm ready to be fixed in a one hour time period- with commercial breaks of course."

"First step is losing the attitude."

Jove cracked a smile. "Y'know, that's something the real Dr. Phil would say."

"Anyway, it's important to remember that there are people who are there for you. I know that was a major problem for me when I was in your position. But, just keep in mind that if you're feeling overwhelmed, you can talk to any of us. We're not therapists or anything, but we'll try our best to make you feel better."

"Group hug!" Anna tackled Jove. Nate and Johann exchanged a glance, then shrugged and joined the dog pile.

A genuine laugh bubbled to the surface as Jove said, "thanks guys."

"It's what we do best." Nate said.

. . .

 _"Your Dad hates me," I said as Thalassa and I drank our root beer float._

 _"My father hates everybody," she responded. "It's nothing personal."_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 _"You said the same thing about him treating me badly." I responded. "I'm sorry, but I'm sorta beginning to think I'm not just another person he dislikes."_

 _Thalassa seemed genuinely concerned. "Why do you think that?"_

 _"Well, before your last show, he told me to stop hanging out with you."_

 _She frowned down at the float. "He never told me about that."_

 _That's because he's trying to drive me away._ _I wanted to say something, but Thalassa seemed to really love her dad. Saying something like that seemed a bit rude._

 _"Do you think he's trying to scare you off?"_

 _I hesitated. "I think so, yeah."_

 _"I'll have to talk to him about that. I'm almost 18, I can make my own decisions!" Thalassa turned to look me straight in the eye. "You think so too, right?"_

 _"Of course."_

 _"Ugh I_ cannot _believe my father! He's always butting into my business. He says it's in my 'best interest', but there's nothing wrong with spending time with you. If anything, I feel less lonely now!"_

 _Wait, what? "You were lonely before?"_

 _Thalassa looked over. There seemed to be a sort of raw pain behind her eyes. "...Of course I was. Didn't I ever tell you why I was home schooled?"_

 _I shook my head._

 _"Well..." Thalassa ran a shaking hand through her hair. "People would call me a freak just because I performed magic. They would tell me I was going to Hell, or say stuff like, 'I bet you'd make your clothes disappear if I paid you enough' and… other things like that. I tried to ignore it, but it gets hard to ignore such hurtful things if someone's constantly saying it over, and over again. My father took me out a few years ago."_

 _"Why'd you decide to go back to public school, then if everyone was so terrible to you?"_

 _"I was lonely at home too. I didn't have any friends, and my tutor was as dull as a can of white paint. In my mind, at least I had a possibility of making some friends… and I guess I was right. I met you, after all." Thalassa looked down at her clasped hands. "To be honest, I've been watching you play guitar for a while before I invited you to that first show. There was a pain in your eyes that… reminded me a lot of myself. You seemed to have a story to tell, just like me. I haven't heard the whole version of yours, but I'm putting the pieces together slowly, but surely." She looked up expectantly._

 _"I… never realized that happened to you." I said quietly. "You-you hide it so well."_

 _Thalassa smiled weakly. "I've been practicing for a few years now. You're pretty good at it yourself." She lightly punched my shoulder. "But I don't fall for your usual tricks."_

 _"I didn't even realize I had any tricks." We sat in silence for a few moments. Thalassa seemed like she had something she wanted to say. Finally, she spoke._

 _"So, prom's coming up." She was twiddling her thumbs._

 _I raised an eyebrow. "What prompted that comment?"_

 _"Well, there's this guy at my school who asked me to be his cover up."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Because he's gay, and he thought I was a lesbian. I guess he figured we could help each other out."_

 _"Are you a lesbian?"_

 _"No, he just thought I was because according to him I'm 'too pretty to not have a boyfriend'. I guess he doesn't_ _know that I'm a freak." Thalassa laughed bitterly._ _"I took it as a compliment, and he seems pretty nice. Him and his boyfriend sit with me at lunch so I have someone to talk to now."_

 _"Looks like you're makin' some friends then."_

 _"Yeah, but I wish I could hang out with some girls too. I'm tired of being friends with only guys."_

 _I nodded. "Yeah, I used to be the same way. It's nice after a while, but eventually, I wished I could talk to the guys. Someone who would get what it's like to get a random bon-" I've said too much._

 _"It doesn't seem like you need a guy around to talk about your boners." Good god, she's laughing at me…_

 _My face had probably turned the color of a tomato by now. "I didn't mean to say that." That made her laugh even harder. By the end of the day I'd probably reduce myself to a living, breathing joke._

 _"You're adorable when you're embarrassed."_

 _My embarrassment gave way as a frown crossed my face. "I'm not adorable, you're adorable!" And now I was digging myself into an even deeper hole. One that barely had a chance of me escaping._

 _Thalassa raised an eyebrow. "I see the whole truth is coming out today."_

 _I hid my face, hoping Thalassa would just change the subject. Hopefully, I wouldn't open my mouth again and tell her all about how I just wanted to stare at her perfect face for a few hours, or how I_ really _wanted to kiss her right then and there. That would be an immediate death sentence. Especially considering how she thinks of me as just a friend._

 _"What else is going on in that head of yours?"_

 _God dammit! "N-nothing."_

 _"I didn't take you for an air head."_

 _"Ugh! You know what I meant." Maybe I didn't need to all of my secrets to make myself look like an absolute idiot._

 _Thalassa just laughed. "I know, I'm just teasing you." She looked down at her watch. "I should probably get going. My father's going to be waiting and I need to talk to him." Thalassa and I walked out of the diner after paying our bill. "I'll see you tomorrow." Thalassa began walk away._

 _"Hey, wait." Why did I say that?_

 _"Hm?" Oh god, I'm going to embarrass myself even more._

 _"You forgot something."_

 _"I did?" Thalassa panicked and started digging around in her purse._

 _"Yeah," I leaned forward and stood on my tip-toes to land a quick peck on her cheek. Thalassa blushed the deepest shade of red I had ever seen, then looked back at me._

 _"Is that how we're saying goodbye?"_

 _Okay Jove, just play it off as a joke. She clearly didn't take it the way you intended. "Yeah… in Great Britain, kissing someone on the cheek-"_

 _Thalassa pulled me towards her and kissed me. Right then and there. Straight on the lips. I was beginning to see who had the real pair of balls between us. "Bye!" And then she just turned and started walking away, as if nothing had happened._

 _I recovered from the shock of just kissing the prettiest girl I've ever met, and said the most charming thing I could think of, "can we do that again?"_

 _Thalassa just smiled, tapped the face of her watch,_ _and shook her index finger in the air_ _. God,_ _she's such a tease._

. . .

Apollo had been dropped off at Jove's house on Sunday, much to Jove's delight. Apollo seemed to be happy about it as well.

"How was your visit with your mother?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Grandpa taught me a card trick!" Apollo was smiling.

"Why don't you show me?" Jove sat down on the couch, preparing to be wowed. Magnifi might be a dick, but he's a dick that can do a mean card trick.

Apollo scrunched up his face. "Grandpa said I can only show it to other magicians."

 _Of course._

"Well, magicians show their tricks to people who aren't magicians. C'mon, I really wanna see what you've been working on."

This seemed to make up Apollo's mind as he pulled out a deck of cards. "Okay, Grandpa said this was pretty easy, so I won't be mad if you can figure it out." Apollo made a fan out of the cards. "See these cards?" He moved his free hand over the cards.

And then they were gone.

"Woah! How did you do that?"

Apollo grinned, happy to have stumped his father. "A magician never reveals his secrets. But I can ask Grandpa if he can teach you."

Jove held back a groan. "No, it's okay. I don't want to bother your grandfather. I'll figure it out on my own."

The boy furrowed his brow, then shrugged. "Okay. I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"

 _And, he's onto a new topic. Works for me._

"I dunno. Probably just whatever I can find in the refrigerator."

Apollo made a face. "Can we go out to eat?"

"We just ate out Thursday, so no. I'm sure we can find _something_ decent to eat."

The little boy reluctantly followed Jove to the kitchen where they went on the ultimate scavenger hunt, the only exception being being they didn't know what exactly they were looking for. But Jove reasoned that scavenger hunts where you knew what you were looking for were boring. Anything to make himself feel like less of a shitty parent.

"How 'bout spaghetti? We've got sauce and Parmesan cheese."

Apollo frowned, contemplating the suggestion. He shrugged, "I guess."

 _All right, he doesn't seem all that excited about it. Let's look for something else._

There was an unopened pack of hamburger patties in the refrigerator. Why did he even have them in the first place? He didn't own a grill, so he couldn't really make them, even if he wanted to.

"Ooh! Can we have hamburgers?" The son has spoken.

"Sure," Jove reasoned that he could always throw them in a pan with some seasoning and cook them that way. Now that he thought about it, this wasn't a half-bad idea. It wouldn't be the tastiest thing he's ever had, but it would at least satisfy Apollo. Besides, Jove wasn't in the mood for spaghetti.

Apollo sat at the bar table in the middle of the kitchen that also served as the dining room. There was a part of Jove that hated the placement of the table since it often got in the way while he was cooking, but on the other hand, there wouldn't be enough room for Apollo's bedroom if the apartment had a dining room. Jove would've had to pay more for a bigger apartment, so he made peace with the over sized bar table, and just stepped around the bar stools that were always pulled out as far from the table as possible.

"So what did you do over the weekend besides learn a card trick?" Jove asked while he cooked the hamburgers.

"I helped Mommy unpack some of her stuff. Zak helped too."

"Zak?" Jove turned around, startled. That was a name he hadn't expected to hear.

"Yeah, he's Mommy's friend. She says she's know him for years." Apollo's hand seemed to subconsciously hover over his bracelet-clad wrist. "Do you not like him?"

Jove shook his head. "I think he's fine. I just haven't heard about him in a while. That's all."

Apollo seemed content with this answer, and just went back to humming quietly while he drew on a sheet of paper.

Finally, the hamburgers were cooked completely though. Jove scooped one onto each of the two buns, and placed a plate in front of his son. "Guten apetit."

Apollo giggled. "You sound funny!"

Jove chuckled. "That's because I'm speaking German."

Apollo seemed to find German hilarious as he kept saying 'guten apetit' under his breath and laughing.

"Say another word!"

Jove said the first thing that came to mind, "schmetterling." Before Apollo could ask what that meant, Jove explained, "it means butterfly."

Apollo had momentarily forgotten his dinner and was laughing. Jove didn't think it was _that_ funny, but maybe kids just had a different sense of humor. Or maybe Apollo thought it was funny because German's a funny language. At least Jove thought so. Germans didn't share the same sentiment though. He knew that from experience.

"Alright, alright, hurry up and eat your burger before it gets cold." Jove took a bite of the burger. It wasn't amazing, but it didn't make him want to gag, so that was a plus.

"Mm! You should open a restaurant!"

"Let's wait until I get my album published. Gotta take things one dream at a time." Besides, restaurants can ruin you financially if they fail and Jove wasn't going to risk losing Apollo just so he could open one.

"Aw… okay. I can open a restaurant!"

Jove smirked. "You do that."

After a few minutes of silence Apollo spoke up, "I don't think Grandpa likes you very much."

 _No surprise there._

"Why do you think that?"

"He said you were a homeless bum."

"What."

Apollo nodded. "But I told him you had a house so you couldn't be homeless. He didn't say anything after that."

Jove pushed himself away from the bar table. "'Scuse me for a second."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No!" Jove said that a little louder than he had intended. He'd have to apologize later. "I'm just going to talk to your mother. You keep eating dinner."

. . .

 _"So… we're technically dating now, right?" I said as Thalassa and I sat on the stairs into her school._

 _Thalassa looked up from her homework. "Yeah, and?"_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 _"That means I can kiss you whenever I want..." I paused, realizing what I had said. "Well, not_ whenever _I want because, of course, you gotta be okay with it, but if I wanted to kiss you and you-"_

 _"Just kiss me."_

 _I leaned forward and our lips met. It seemed better than the first time. Maybe because we were together longer now. Or maybe I'm just delusional. Regardless, when we broke apart, I said, "I kinda feel like a pussy."_

 _Thalassa cocked her head to the side. "Why? Well, I have an idea, but I want to hear it from you."_

 _"In all the other relationships I've seen, couples don't ask if they can kiss each other. They just do it. But I don't want to go in to kiss you and you not want to kiss me. That's just… embarrassing. I know that sounds selfish but..." I trailed off._

 _Thalassa smiled. "There's never been a time I haven't wanted to kiss you. I'd have to be in a terrible mood for that to happen, and I'm sure you'd be able to tell then._

 _God, she always knew what to say. I could probably tell her, 'hey, I wanna get down and dirty with you, right here, right now, but don't have a place to do so since an alley is both disgusting and a bit too public.' And Thalassa would probably just nod and say something along the lines of, 'I do too, but we'll be getting an apartment soon and once we do, we can bone 'til the cows come home.'_

 _...I really need to get my mind out of the gutter. I have one girlfriend and suddenly I'm thinking about sex. Maybe it was my fabled teenage hormones. Yeah, that's probably it. They're supposed to make teenagers horny… right?_

 _Man, I wish sex ed talked a little more about these types of feelings and less about abstinence._

 _"Are you blushing?" Thalassa asked._

 _Oh god, I think I am. "Yes?"_

 _She tilted her head to the side. "You're cute when you blush."_

 _"Are you saying that just to make me blush more?" If she did, it was definitely working. My face felt a bit warmer than it already was. "Because I do not appreciate the teasing."_

 _"Aw, I'll stop then." Thalassa leaned her head on my shoulder. It was a bit awkward considering she's a good bit taller than me._

 _"That can't be comfortable." I remarked._

 _Thalassa made a face. "It's not, but I figured you'd lean your head on mine, and it would make the discomfort worth it."_

 _"Oh, that's what I'm supposed to do?"_

 _"You're not_ supposed _to do anything. I was just… hoping."_

 _I leaned my head on Thalassa's. I could hear her breathing. It was nice. "So… how_ do _relationships work?" I said. "Because it seems like we're both taking inspiration from stuff we've seen from movies or something, and that can't be how other people do it."_

 _"You couldn't have possibly gotten the whole 'tell-me-I've-forgotten-something-and-then-kiss-me-thing' from some movie."_

 _"You're talking like it was something endearing. I don't even know why I did it. My mind was telling me not to, and I just… did it. I dunno. I think back to that moment and just die a little bit on the inside." I started twiddling my thumbs. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to actually kiss me back. I was thinking you'd slap me or something and never talk to me again."_

 _"C'mon, give yourself a little credit. You're not some disgusting creep who tries to hit on girls. You're talented, and funny," Thalassa smiled, a slight blush crossing her cheeks. "And handsome-"_

 _"I haven't bathed in like, a week."_

 _"Regardless. I think you're a keeper."_

 _I snorted. "Why don't you tell your dad that."_

 _Thalassa squinted. "Oh, I think he's walking over here. I'll tell him right now."_

 _My heartbeat quickened. "I gotta go."_

 _Before I could run away, Thalassa grabbed my arm. "You're coming with me. We're gonna face this problem head-on."_

 _"Thalassa_ please! _He's going to bite my head off!"_

 _Thalassa dragged me towards her father. "Then he'll have to bite both of our heads off if he wants to do that."_

 _"I think he just might."_

 _She planted her feet firmly in front of her father. "Hello, father."_

 _He was glaring at me, a deep frown on his face. "I told you to stay away from my daughter."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "I was actually going to talk to you about that. Who I spend time with is none of your business. I'm almost 18, and I can judge people's character myself. Jove is a perfectly nice person, and I will not let you bully him into staying away from me."_

 _"That boy is no good."_

 _"Um, can you stop talking like I'm not-"_

 _"Quiet boy!"_

 _I stepped back, letting the two duke it out on their own._

 _"How would you know? You've barely met him! Besides, Jove has been nothing but respectful to you. I'm am going to continue to spend time with him, and that's final!" Thalassa grabbed my wrist and pulled my away. "C'mon Jove, let's go somewhere quieter."_

 _I just followed. There was probably a stupid look on my face considering how amazed I was at Thalassa's sheer badassery._

 _Her father yelled out for Thalassa to come back, but was promptly ignored._

 _"Um, what are you gonna do when you get home?" I asked once we could no longer hear his shouts._

 _"I'll go to my room, and wait until he sees how foolish he's being and apologizes."_

 _"Do you really think he will?"_

 _"He has to. I'm his daughter after all."_

 _I was about to suggest that maybe he's more spiteful than that, but held my tongue. Thalassa knew her father better than I did, so I'll let her deal with him._

 _"So where are we going?"_

 _"It's a surprise."_

. . .

"Hello? This is Thalassa Gramarye."

 _Wow she changed her last name real quick._

"Hey, Thalassa. It's me Jove."

"Did Apollo forget something?"

"No, no. It's nothing like that."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"What's wrong?" Thalassa asked.

"Apollo told me that your father called me a 'homeless bum'. Could you possibly tell him to not do that? I don't want Apollo learning things about me from Magnifi. Especially if he's only saying it to negatively impact Apollo's opinion of me."

"I-I'm _so_ sorry about that. I didn't think my father would stoop that low considering we're…" Thalassa trailed off.

"Separated." Jove finished.

"Yes. I'll definitely talk to him, and if he does it again, please tell me. I might have to consider a change of residence if it gets to that."

"I'll make sure I tell you." He hung up the phone, and stared at it. Frankly, he was pissed. Not at Thalassa of course; she hadn't done anything wrong. But just at Magnifi, and his very existence as the miserable human being he is. It was just uncalled for. Jove wasn't ever going to see him again, and that was obvious by the fact that Thalassa filed for a god damn divorce.

There was a knock on Jove's door. "Daddy? I finished." Why did that boy have to be such a fast eater?

Jove took a deep breath and tried his best to compose himself. "Great, just put your plate in the sink. I'll get to it later."

"Okay."

Jove had to calm down now. He couldn't show up in front of Apollo with a vein popping out of his head. Slowly, he counted to ten, and his breathing returned to normal.

Apollo was sitting upside-down on the couch. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hey, whatcha watching?"

"The Steel Samurai."

"Oh wow, I remember that show. It was on back when I was a kid." Jove sat down next to Apollo. "The production value has definitely gone up."

Apollo nodded. "What does that mean?"

"The quality of the special effects and cameras and all that."

"Oh." The little boy went back to watching TV. "I like the production value."

"So much so that you're watching it upside-down?"

"Mm hm."

Jove patted Apollo's leg. "Well I'd better do the dishes. Keep my seat warm, yeah?"

"Okay."

 _I sat down with him for a literal minute. Probably not even. I need to start spending more time with him. It's probably not good for him to just sit around without having some social interaction. Or maybe not. I watched TV and I turned out fine…_

 _On second thought, never mind._

 **"When the moon is bright with a pale blue light, and trouble is nearby.**

 **"Only one man fights for what is right, the Steel Samurai!"**

 _Huh, they're still using the same theme song._

 **"And all heroes know when it's time to go and faced their destined fate.**

 **"For who should show, but his deadly foe: the Evil Magistrate!"**

Jove stepped out of the kitchen. Apollo hadn't noticed him just yet. This was going to be his performance magnum opus.

"The Samurai shall always fight for Justice which is great!"

Apollo looked up at his father who had struck a valiant pose. Surprisingly he stood up too. _"Princess Yume-Hime, the future, her dreams know._

 _"Captured by the evil, save her-_

 _"Go go go!"_

The two sang the rest of the song to the very end. Jove struck a crane pose while Apollo just pumped his fists into the air. "Let's do that again!" Apollo was bouncing up and down.

Jove couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, Pollywog, but I gotta do the dishes. Besides, the theme song only comes on once an episode."

Apollo nodded. "I guess."

Jove ruffled his son's hair. "But if another episode starts, you can call me and I'll come running."

"I will!"

A big smile had crept onto Jove's face. He hadn't done an impromptu karaoke session in a while and it felt pretty good. It was always nice to stretch the old vocal cords, and make his son happy in the process.

Apollo always seemed to be able to make Jove smile. He wasn't quite sure if he had this effect on everybody, but regardless, it was always welcomed.

 _What are you going to do when he grows up?_

Jove froze. He had completely forgotten that aging was a thing that happened to people of the living variety. What _was_ he going to do when Apollo moved out? He couldn't even be alone for thirty minutes and in twelve years he was supposed to live that way for the rest of his life?

 _You'll just have to cross that bridge when you get there…_

Jove rubbed his eyes, and went back to scrubbing the dishes. Why _had_ he been thinking so far ahead all of a sudden? Only one thing had really changed from this time last week. Maybe Thalassa leaving him was impacting Jove more than he'd like to admit. It had definitely affected Apollo.

Once Jove had finished doing the dishes, he opted to watch TV with Apollo who was in the middle of a Steel Samurai episode.

"So what's happening now?" He asked.

Apollo started explaining without looking at Jove, "the Evil Magistrate is threatening to destroy Neo Olde Tokyo and kill all of the people living there so the Steel Samurai is trying to defeat him before he deploys his army."

 _Holy shit._

"That's some pretty heavy stuff. Is the Steel Samurai winning?"

"Of course! The Evil Magistrate can never win! Neo Olde Tokyo would be destroyed if he did."

"How could I forget?"

Apollo didn't respond and just watched the rest of the episode, completely absorbed by the action on screen. Indeed the Evil Magistrate was planning on committing mass genocide. He had a giant army and everything ready to slice down anyone who stood in his way. Jove had to admit it, he was at least a little invested as well.

"See you in Hell, Evil Magistrate!" The Steel Samurai jumped into the air and readied his spear to come down on his arch nemesis.

"Will the Steel Samurai keep the Evil Magistrate from destroying Neo Olde Tokyo? Find out next week on, the Steel Samurai!"

Apollo groaned. "They do this every time!"

"That's how they rope you in. If they end the episode on a cliffhanger, you want to keep watching to find out what happens next."

"I'd watch even if they didn't have cliffhangers..." Apollo muttered.

"Yeah, I would too, but not everyone thinks like us."

"Well they should!"

Jove laughed. "I don't think I'd want a billion me's running around."

Apollo frowned. "Then everyone can just think like me!"

. . .

 _"Why did you take me to a karaoke place?" I asked as Thalassa led me to a booth._

 _"You'll see." She placed her purse in the booth across from me and walked up to the stage._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 _"This is for my boyfriend, Jove." The opening notes to 'Down Together' started playing. What the hell is she planning?_

"We could write our names here in the mud  
"No one's around to see them  
"We could hang our shoes right here in a tree  
"No one's around to steal them

"I could give you a star  
"You could give me one too  
"That way we'd be even  
"And I could sing this song way out of tune

"And not care a bit about it." _Thalassa laughed after she actually sang the last two lines out of tune. A laugh somehow managed to force itself from between my lips._

 _She continued while swaying her hips to the beat of the music._

"We could both wear cowboy hats  
"And pretend to speak Italian  
"Well I could eat some gum

"And make my breath so minty fresh  
"To kiss you  
"Your breath will smell like wine  
"I like that a lot

"Especially when I kiss you  
"And I could hit my funny bone really hard  
"And you could call me sweetheart."

 _Thalassa seemed to notice that I'm a blushing mess and winked. I hid my cheeks behind my hands, but still watched her._

 _"_ And who ever said there's nothing new under the sun  
"Never thought much about individuals  
"But he's dead anyways.

"So lets go down together  
"Down together  
"Well let's go down together  
"Down together  
"Down together  
"Lets go down together  
"Down together  
"Down together  
"Together  
"Yeah, let's go!"

 _There was a small part of me that was starting to sense what was going on, but it was choked out by the more rational part that thought that couldn't possibly happen. Sure, Thalassa would kiss me occasionally, but we weren't that serious…_

 _The warmness in my cheeks had seeped away, and I went back to leaning on my hands and watching Thalassa sing. Not only was she good at magic, but she had a decent set of pipes on her too. I wonder if she's ever had vocal training…_

"Cars break down, and people break down, and other things break down too..."

 _God, I love that line. I wonder if Thalassa thinks the same way? I'd have to ask. We had never really analyzed music. She probably wasn't even interested in doing stuff like that. Most people just listen to the music. They don't analyze the lyrical structure, or the chords, or anything else like that. I'm just that one weird kid who does that…_

 _Thalassa's eyes would probably glaze over if I started talking about it._

"We can find a speck of dust

"And scribble down our life story."

 _Everyone started clapping, and I realized that I had zoned out of half the song. Now I feel like a dick…_

 _"Jove,"_

 _I looked up at the mention of my name. She probably realized I hadn't been paying attention._

 _"Will you go to prom with me?"_

 _Prom?_

 _I blinked._

 _Prom. As in…_

The _Prom._

 _I completely froze. It was almost as if I had been thrown back in time to the moment we first talked._

 _Everyone in the karaoke bar seemed to be staring at me, but I only noticed Thalassa with her big, beautiful smile. God, just looking at her made_ me _smile like an idiot._

 _"Yeah, of course!"_

 _She looked the happiest I had ever seen her. She ran off the stage and wrapped me in a tight hug. "For some reason I didn't think you'd actually say yes, but I'm glad you did."_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. "Why wouldn't I say yes? You're my girlfriend."_

 _Thalassa shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought maybe you wouldn't want to go since you don't know anyone at my school."_

 _"Pfft… they don't care about some rando. At least I hope they don't..."_

 _"Probably not. I guess I was just doubting myself. I felt like I was a little too showy with asking you too. It felt like I was kinda… pressuring you? I don't know. I hope I didn't though. If I did, it's fine for you to say that you don't want to go. I won't be mad, I promise."_

 _I can't believe she's this self-conscious. "No, of course I didn't feel pressured. Saying that would require me to not want to go in the first place. Personally, I thought it was pretty clever to use 'Down Together' to invite me to prom."_

 _Thalassa leaned her head on my shoulder. This time I actually leaned my head on hers. "You think? Well, I'm flattered."_

 _"Do you think they'd let me sing a song?" I asked out of nowhere. Well, I knew where it came from… kinda._

 _"I don't know. I had to make a reservation."_

 _"You can do that?"_

 _Thalassa shrugged. "I just said 'I'm gonna sing a song at this time' and the DJ said that was fine, so I guess that's a reservation."_

 _"Well, I'll try anyway. I haven't sung in a while."_

 _There was a queue 20 people. "Never mind," I told the DJ who just shrugged and started playing the next song._

 _Instead of singing, Thalassa and I decided to go out and get my prom outfit._

 _"I already have my dress, so we'll just look at the men's sections."_

 _"Wow, I've tripled my previous wardrobe in just 2 months." I said as we scanned the racks. "All of these look too stuffy. Maybe we should go more for a casual-formal thing?"_

 _Thalassa frowned. "How about this? It looks like something you would wear." She pulled a jacket off of a rack. It was red with a popped collar. It kinda reminded me of my bomber jacket a little bit…_

 _I slipped it on. It stopped midway down my torso, but it fit so that was probably how it had been designed. "Wow, this' really cool. How'd you manage to find it?"_

 _"It just caught my eye, but look," she took my hat from my dangling hand and placed it square on my head. "It goes with your hat. Now let's go find you some pants."_

 _We settled on a pair of slacks that matched the color of my jacket._

 _"Hm… the only problem I have is that the jacket's short..." Thalassa was studying my outfit, a slight frown on her face._

 _Ugh, I don't want her spending more money. I gotta think of_ something _."I have a black shirt that I can wear. I just have to wash it..." And I finally say something useful for once!_

 _"I didn't think about adding black. That would actually tie the outfit together… You're pretty good at the whole fashion thing!"_

 _"I'm just throwing ideas around. You're the one who's playing dress up. I just have to ask, do you do this with everyone you meet?"_

 _Thalassa wrinkled her nose, a devious look in her eye. "Maybe. Now hurry up and change back into your normal clothes. I have to pay for these."_

 _I slipped off the jacket and handed it to her. "Thalassa?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"I love you."_

. . .

Jove and Thalassa had been separated for a few months, and Jove couldn't believe it. He had managed to learn to deal with Apollo being gone on the weekends, but still missed him a bit every time he left. He missed Thalassa a bit too.

That is, until Apollo came home one weekend with some interesting news.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Mommy's dating Zak now." Apollo said while he was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing.

Jove had to pause for a moment to process what he had heard. Thalassa moved on pretty quickly. He could feel a sort of sinking feeling in his chest. Why it was there, he didn't really know. Maybe it was because he had wanted to get back with Thalassa… it didn't make any sense how that would happen, but whenever his brain decided to dream about it, how they got back together was always an omitted detail.

"Daddy?"

"Hm?" Jove shook his head. He really needed to stop spacing out. "Sorry Pollywog. I was just thinking."

"Are you mad at Mommy?"

 _Just_ _a little._

"No, she can do whatever she wants to."

 _Even date when we're not even technically divorced yet._

"How about you? Are you okay with everything?" Jove asked.

Apollo shrugged. "Mommy likes him, so he's okay."

Jove missed having that blind trust in his parents. It was so much easier to believe that they weren't just people like him who made mistakes and didn't have the answer to everything. Of course, his parents weren't around for him to blindly trust anyway, so he was thinking about a moot point.

"Daddy, are you sad?" Apollo was looking up at Jove with his big, genuine eyes; his eyes that made it impossible to tell even the smallest of lies.

"Mm hm." Jove felt two little arms wrap around his torso.

"Don't be sad! Mommy says she doesn't hate you." Apollo mumbled into his father's sweater.

Jove mustered a short, quick laugh. "Did you ask her for me?"

"Yeah!"

Why was he not surprised? "Well, thank you. That makes me feel a lot better."

"Let's go watch the Steel Samurai! There's a new episode." And there went Apollo, master of lightening the mood, out the door and into the living room.

"Alright, you lead the way."

. . .

"Thalassa's dating someone new." Jove had started the next day by gossiping with his band mates about his failed love life. He couldn't believe he was turning into a washed up, single parent at the ripe age of twenty-four. But if he was being honest, gossiping was more fun than he had anticipated.

"Seriously?" Anna knit her eyebrows together. "You've only been separated for like, two seconds."

Johann rested his chin in his hands. "She was probably cheating on you."

And now the fun was starting to diminish. "What? No she wasn't." Why had Johann even suggested that? "That's not something Thalassa would do."

"I thought that about the guys who cheated on me. I'm telling you Jove, no one tries to make it obvious they're cheating. If they wanted to do that, they'd just immediately dump you once they saw the next hot number across the street."

"Johann, you know Thalassa. Do you really think she'd cheat on me?" Jove was beginning to feel annoyed. He hadn't expected such a serious response. All of this was beginning to make him ask questions he hadn't previously wanted to think of.

"I also didn't think she'd divorce you, and look where we are now."

"That's completely different from cheating on someone!"

 _Why am I defending her?_

It's not like Thalassa was ever going to know about Jove defending her honor. Even though her cheating on him _would_ explain why she divorced him so suddenly. But… "Thalassa isn't a deplorable human being." Jove decided. "Zak's been around for a few years so they probably just hit it off when she moved back in with her father."

Johann held up his hands. "I'm just sharing what I've learned after dating for a while. I will admit that it's possible nothing happened, and all of this is just a weird coincidence."

Jove nodded, but the thought was still nagging at the back of his mind. He and Thalassa had met Zak before Apollo was even born, and he's been with the Troupe ever since. Jove hadn't been particularly fond of Zak, but he didn't seem like a bad person. Definitely not someone who would cheat with someone else's wife. Hopefully... The idea of being a cuckold didn't really appeal to Jove.

"How about we get to work?" Nate said. "We need to get our demo finished in time to submit it to the label."

"Yeah… yeah." Jove frowned at the ground and picked up his guitar. "Where were we again?"

"Um…" Anna started rifling through a folder full of sheet music. "Ah! Here you go." She handed a half filled sheet to Jove. "We just have to finish this and then all we have to do is fine tune everything and make sure it sounds amazing."

Jove started at the music. His mind didn't seem to want to focus on anything other than what Johann had said.

 _I could ask Apollo if he knows anything… But I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him._

"What do you think Jove?" Everyone was looking at Jove.

"Hm?"

"I wanted to know what you think about changing the key of this part of the chorus." Anna repeated. "What do you think about that?"

"Oh, yeah, that's fine."

"You're completely out of it." Johann said. "Is it because of what I said?"

"No…" No one was buying it. "...Yeah, you caught me. I dunno. Thalassa isn't the kind of person to cheat, but I just can't stop toying with the possibility that maybe she did. I mean, I barely know Zak. Maybe he's an amazing charmer or something..."

"Dude, you're taking Johann way more seriously than you should." Anna said. "He just says whatever he thinks of in that small brain of his."

"I think you're confusing me for yourself." Johann shot back.

"My point is, just take it with a grain of salt. If you don't think Thalassa would do that, then just trust your judgment." Anna said. "I mean, I don't know her very well, so I can't say much, but from the few encounters I've had with her, she doesn't seem like a terrible person."

Jove rubbed the corner of the sheet music between his two fingers, and nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'll do that. Thanks, Anna."

"And just for the record, I am a better advice giver than Johann, right?"

Jove laughed. "I wouldn't trust your judgment on anything else considering you'll drink whatever alcohol is put in front of you without a second thought."

"Oh, now that's just cold, man. You know I drink the stuff like water."

"And you all thought _I_ was the one teetering on the edge of alcoholism?"

The group shared a good laugh, then got back to work. Jove's mind had been calmed at least for a little bit. He had no problem getting back to work now.

. . .

 _It was the night of prom. Thalassa told me to meet her outside of her house/performance hall._

 _"How do I look?" She walked down the stairs and smiled._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 _I was dumbfounded. Thalassa wasn't wearing the standard floor length prom dress;_ _t_ _he hem of her dress ended at her knees. It was_ _a_ _rich, forest green color_ _that complimented her blue eyes, and had a creme button-up collar_ _._

 _"Holy shit..." I whispered._

 _"'In a good way or..."_

 _"'Holy shit' in a 'you look gorgeous' kinda way!"_

 _Thalassa covered her mouth with her hand and laughed. "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself."_

 _In an attempt to try to be more touchy-feely, or something, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Not as good as you though."_

 _Thalassa leaned into me. Mission accomplished… I think. "I beg to differ." She slipped her free hand into mine. "Everyone hates how they look."_

 _I smirked. "Even you?"_

 _She kicked at the ground. "Yeah..." Thalassa let go of my hand and looked down at her watch. Great, now everything is awkward. That's a great way to start off the evening. "Well, Johann's going to be here in about ten minutes so,_ _do you want to wait upstairs?" Thalassa turned to open the door._

 _My heartbeat quickened. "Isn't your Dad up there?"_

 _"He's out of town for some fancy magician's prix or something all weekend, so it's fine." She seemed to have everything figured out, leaving me unsure on whether to be impressed or a little scared._

 _"So how about it?" Thalassa smiled in that way only she could replicate; she closed her eyes and wrinkled the bridge of her nose just the slightest bit._

 _Unable to form anything more than a slight shrug, I followed Thalassa up to her apartment… thing._ _It was hard to believe that the last time I had visited Thalassa's home, the place had felt so hostile, and now I was standing in the doorway with the intense desire to flop into a chair and prop up my feet. Maybe it was just because Thalassa was next to me, though. But right now I needed to make small talk,_ _"so… do you just cook dinner for yourself since your dad's gone?"_

 _"Yeah, I'm not the best cook, but I just do what the recipes say and it turns out decent."_

 _"I'm sure that's what everyone else does." God, why is this conversation so boring? We're going to prom! There's gotta be something better for us to talk about..._

 _"I guess you're right."_

 _Despite my efforts to start a conversation, we were plunged into silence. It wasn't uncomfortable or anything, but I hadn't really anticipated this happening. Part of me had hoped that Thalassa had something interesting to say, and then we'd start a long philosophical conversation about the meaning of life, or whatever._

 _Thalassa's cellphone started ringing. "Oh, that must be Johann." She answered. "Hey!"_

 _Johann said something I couldn't make out._

 _"Yeah, we'll be right down." She hung up, and I finally thought of something to say,_

 _"Johann thought you were a lesbian, right?" I held back a groan. That had sounded way funnier in my head._

 _Nevertheless, Thalassa smiled at my unfunny remark. "Yeah, but I told him I was straight a while ago." She started laughing. "He was_ so _embarrassed. But we're pretty good friends now, so it's just water under the bridge." Thalassa grabbed her purse and walked towards the door. "Come on, Johann's waiting for us."_

 _She took ahold of my hand as we walked downstairs. God, her skin was soft. What did she do, bathe in the essence of silk?_

 _"Hey, so this is the guy!" Someone with curly black hair -who I assumed to be Johann- leaned out of his car window to look at us._

 _Thalassa smirked. "Nice car."_

 _Johann frowned. "Hey, do you want a ride or not?"_

 _"I'm kidding, now where's Amadeus?" Thalassa asked as we climbed into the back seat._

 _"We're meeting him at the school since his parents don't like gays either."_

 _"Ugh, my parents felt the same way." I rolled my eyes. "The only thing they hated more than gay people was witchcraft. I had to sneak and read the Harry Potter books."_

 _"Tch… I'm glad mine missed that hate train. Anyway, my mom wants me to swing back around so she can get pictures." Johann pulled into the driveway of his house. "We'll be back in like, five minutes."_

 _I nodded, and leaned my head against the window. I hadn't been getting too much sleep recently and it was starting to take a toll on me._

 _Johann and Thalassa returned a few minutes later, and made small talk while we drove to the school. With nothing to do, I just stared out the window and watched the scenery fly by. The tired face staring back at me served as a constant reminder that the bags under my eyes were extremely noticeable. I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb at prom…_

 _"Hey, what's on your mind?" Thalassa placed a hand on my arm. "You've been quiet."_

 _I kept my gaze fixed on the window and shook my head. "Nothing. I've just never been to prom before, and I don't know anyone there and..."_

 _"I thought they wouldn't care about some randy?"_

 _Now she's using my own arguments against me? God damn. "Yeah, I know, it's just hard to stomach going to a dance at a school I don't attend… I sound crazy, don't I?"_

 _Thalassa let out a short laugh. "Just a bit."_

 _I was left alone with my thoughts until we arrived at the school. Standing outside the door was a guy dressed in a tux. His blonde hair framed his face in a way that gave him a wide-eyed, innocent sort of look. When he saw Johann's car, his eyes lit up._

 _Johann stopped in front of him. "Hey." He leaned out and kissed the guy. "This is Amadeus. He's my boyfriend."_

 _"Hi," Thalassa said as she and I waved._

 _Amadeus nodded then said, "go find a parking space. I'll wait here."_

 _Once he got out of the car, Johann said to us, "we'll meet outside the school once prom is over."_

 _"Alright," Thalassa said and Johann walked away with Amadeus._

 _"C'mon, we have to go get our picture taken!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me up the steps and into her school._

 _It seemed like she went to one of the public schools in the rich part of town. Everything just looked so well kept from the classrooms to even the halls. What could it possibly be like to have attended school here every day?_

 _"The gym's this way." Thalassa led me through the immaculate halls into a gymnasium that, much like the rest of the school, looked like it had never been used before. But that might've just been because the lights were dimmed._

 _Some pop song I had never heard before pumped through the speakers on either side of the stage where prom pictures were being taken. Various couples were either dancing, or making out behind the bleachers._

 _"So… we're waiting in line now?" I had to shout to be heard._

 _"Yeah, might as well get it done while the night's still young."_

 _But it seemed like everyone else had the same idea as the end of the line started out in the hall. "On second thought… never mind." Thalassa mumbled and led me back into the gym._

 _"What do we do now?" I asked. "I've never been to a school dance before, as you could probably tell."_

 _"Me either." Thalassa looked around, fiddling with the strap of her purse. "I don't see Johann and Amadeus, so I can't ask them for advice. Do you just wanna dance… or something?"_

 _"Uh, yeah, sure. But I don't know how to do that." I said, probably too quiet for Thalassa to hear. Good lord, this night was just getting more and more embarrassing._

 _We looked around at all of the kids around us. Most were just bobbing their heads to the music. It was probably the lamest thing I had ever seen. T_ _halassa seemed to have the same thought as she looked at me. "I thought this would be a lot more fun." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Why did I think this would be a good idea?"_

 _Come on. Find some kind of positive spin to this! "I mean, I just wanted to spend time with you." I suggested. "But I guess we didn't have to go to a big dance to do that..." This evening was starting to fall apart. There had to be something I could do to pull us back on track… There isn't much more to do than dance. Mom and Dad loved dancing, so what would they do…_

 _I wrapped my arms around Thalassa's waist._

 _"Hm?" She cocked her head to the side._

 _"Uh I think you need to do this..." I hooked my arms behind her neck. Thalassa seemed to understand and copied what I had done._

 _"Now what?"_

 _I started swaying side to side, and Thalassa followed along._

 _"This is kinda awkward." She practically yelled into my ear._

 _"I know, but do you have a better idea?"_

 _"Nope."_

 _After a while of awkward swaying, we spotted Johann and Amadeus by the punch bowl._

 _"There they are!" Thalassa pulled me along behind her. "Johann!" She shouted._

 _He looked up smiling. "Hey," the corners of his mouth turned down into a frown once he noticed Thalassa's expression. "Oh, you look mad."_

 _"You abandoned us." Thalassa said curtly._

 _"Oh, sorry. But you seem to be doing alright."_

 _"We're bored."_

 _Johann seemed amused. "Go dance."_

 _"We just finished doing that." Thalassa did not seem pleased._

 _"You could always make out behind the school." Amadeus suggested._

 _"I'd rather stay inside the school. What have you two been doing?"_

 _Amadeus and Johann looked at each other. "Making out behind the school." Johann admitted._

 _"Ugh, you're no help. Jove, let's just go get in line to get our picture taken." Thalassa said. I just followed along since I didn't have anything better to do._

 _It took about an hour to finally get our pictures taken. The actual process of taking said picture only lasted about two or three minutes. Thalassa and I looked down at the wallet-sized photos we were given._ _"An hour for this..." I said aloud to no one in particular._

 _"You look pretty good," Thalassa said._

 _"Please, I look like I've barely gotten any sleep." I replied almost immediately. I don't know why I continued to argue. It didn't seem like Thalassa's mind was going to be changed, and how would her realizing that I'm ugly as hell benefit me in any way?_

 _"Where_ do _you sleep anyway?" She asked as we relocated to the hallway to escape all the shouting and loud music._

 _I shrugged. "Anywhere people can't find me. I've got stuff I don't want them stealing. Like my spare pair of underwear. I made the mistake of sleeping in the open, and someone went on a panty raid. I haven't seen them since."_

 _"So, you're telling me you've been wearing the same pair of underwear this whole time?" Thalassa scrunched up her nose. "That. Is._ Disgusting _."_

 _"Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm just lucky I have any underwear at all."_

 _Thalassa laughed and pushed my shoulder. "Okay, I don't want to talk about this anymore."_

 _"Wait, so you're saying you don't enjoy talking about panty raids?"_

 _"No!"_

 _I couldn't help but laugh. "Alright so, what do we do for the rest of the night?"_

 _"I don't know. I guess we can just wait outside."_

 _"For two hours?"_

 _"Well I didn't say it would be enjoyable..."_

 _What else were we supposed to do? "Alright, fine. I'm sure we'll figure something out._

 _. . ._

 _We didn't. But luckily, Johann and Amadeus didn't know what to do either, and met us outside half an hour after we started waiting outside._

 _"Alright, we're done. It seems like you two are ready to go too." Johann said._

 _"Mm hm." Thalassa nodded. "But at least we got pictures!" She presented the tiny picture of us tucked into her wallet with a proud smile._

 _"Aw, you two are adorable." Amadeus said. "Johann and I were going to get a picture, but neither of us had enough money."_

 _Thalassa frowned and shook her head. "They're charging way too much."_

 _Johann hugged Amadeus, and kissed his cheek. "Well, goodnight. I'll see if we can get together sometime over the weekend._

 _"'Night."_

 _Thalassa and I followed Johann back to his car. "So that was kind of a bust." Johann said as he cranked his car. "My mom's not going to be expecting me home this early."_

 _"Well, you could go to be early and start your Saturday nice and early." Thalassa suggested._

 _"Or… I could play video games."_

 _"That's also an option."_

 _"Hey, what can I say? I love mashing buttons and giving myself carpal tunnel. You know what I'm talking about, Jove?"_

 _I smirked. "Sure."_

 _Johann pulled up in front of Thalassa's home. "Well, here we are. Goodnight Thalassa. Goodnight Jove."_

 _"Thanks for the ride. I'll see you Monday!" Thalassa waved as she shut the car door._

 _We walked back up to her apartment once Johann had disappeared around a corner. Once inside, I picked up my guitar case. "I'd better get going. I'll see you when I see you, I guess." I turned to leave, but paused when I felt a hand grasp my arm._

 _"You can stay here for the weekend." Thalassa said. "I mean, my father isn't coming back until Sunday evening."_

 _"O-okay. Thanks."_

 _Thalassa smiled. "I'll go get some blankets. You can pull out the couch bed."_

 _I nodded and got to work pulling out the couch bed. It was a pretty thin mattress so it wasn't much of a pain to unfold._

 _Once Thalassa came back, I arranged the few pillows I received the way I wanted them, then sat down at the foot of the bed._ _"I… really appreciate you doing this for me." I said._

 _Thalassa smiled. "I don't mind. You are my boyfriend after all." She leaned in and started kissing me. I felt her hands pull my jacket down my shoulders._

 _Oh my god… I think it's finally happening. But what do I do? I can't just let Thalassa do all the work. Where's the fun in that?_ _I pulled away just enough to say, "you planned all of this, didn't you?"_

 _Thalassa laughed. "Just a little bit." And then she pulled me back in._

 _But it didn't matter whether it was planned or not. I was going to savor this time we had together._

 _Because who knows when we'd be able to do this again?_

. . .

Jove was back at home. Apollo was with Thalassa which left him plenty of time to contemplate his life up to this point. Specifically, whether or not his ex-wife cheated on him. He wanted to believe that it wasn't true, but there was that part of his brain that couldn't help but point out how it all made sense...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Zak was a... strange person. He wasn't necessarily a huge dick all the time, but he had moments where he would do something that Jove viewed as an asshole move; him hitting on Thalassa when he knew she was married being one of them. But being a bit of a pompous asshole occasionally, didn't equate to doing something like engaging in a relationship with a married woman.

But, Jove had threatened to bash Zak's head in with his guitar case one time. Zak had taken it well, so Jove just assumed that there wasn't any bad blood, but maybe there was a passive aggressive side to the man that no one knew about…

No, that didn't make any sense.

 _Thalassa took all of her stuff with her, so I can't look for clues in her nightstand…_

Jove needed something to get his mind off of all these unanswered questions. His gaze fell on the various photo albums sitting neatly on the bookshelf. They chronicled the last six years of Jove and Thalassa's life together.

Despite knowing that it would just reopen old wounds, Jove pulled the first album off the shelf. It contained pictures of a pregnant Thalassa along with a few from their wedding, along with one of Jove's favorite pictures.

It was of him and Magnifi shaking hands. Jove's love of it came from the bizarre nature of the picture. He had felt so awkward that he actually showed his teeth when he smiled. It was a forced, and completely fake looking smile that told the person who was looking at the picture that Jove wanted to die, but what really sold the whole image was Magnifi's blank look. He did not look the least bit amused to be in the situation he was currently in. A fact that was further illustrated by how hard he gripped Jove's hand. If he thought hard enough, Jove could feel his hand ache.

Thalassa had stood beside the cameraman with her head cocked to the side, thoroughly interested in the scene. Sometimes, if he was really invested in something, Apollo would emulate that gesture. Jove often teased his wife by saying if he emulated Thalassa's mannerisms anymore, he'd turn into a cartoon character, to which Thalassa would retort, 'if he gets any more nervous, his hair might never stick up again, just like his father.' Maybe Apollo inherited her sharp wit, too. It would give him an edge over anyone who tried to pick on him.

 _Apollo._

Jove hadn't checked on how he was holding up in a while. Apollo had been pretty held together since the meltdown incident a while ago, but it couldn't hurt to at least sit down with some ice cream or something and talk things over.

 _Geez… I've been so caught up in all of this drama that I haven't even made sure Apollo's doing okay. I really am a garbage parent._

Jove was beginning to see the parallels between him and his own parents. After all the years of priding himself on being better than them, he ended up lapsing into the same behaviors once things got a little hard.

All of this was making Jove want to grab a six pack and forget about everything for a little bit.

 _I could probably use a little counseling… If only I could afford it._

But counseling could only do so much. Jove needed to learn how to deal with his problems on his own.

 _I should probably start pinning down what exactly I'm trying to overcome… Become my own counselor._

Jove pulled out a sheet of paper and sat down at the bar table. At the top of the page he wrote 'Becoming a Better Parent'. It didn't take long to start brainstorming ideas:

 **Start paying more attention to Apollo**

 **Stop drinking so much**

 **Become financially stable**

Jove figured that he should try to tackle the top items of him list. It didn't seem like a very hard task to pay more attention to his son. Jove had been doing pretty well up until this week… when all the drama with Thalassa surfaced.

Jove wrote one more thing down:

 **Stop caring so much about Thalassa**

 __Once it was written down, it sounded much colder than it should have, but this was the only way he'd be able to be more focused as a whole. What Thalassa does shouldn't have an impact on Jove. Who cares if she cheated on him?

 _Okay, I don't think I'm ready to be that blasé just yet._

But he wasn't sure how ready he was to stop caring about his ex-wife. Their divorce wasn't even finalized yet. There was a chance they could get back together.

 _Stop thinking like that. It's not going to happen. Especially since Thalassa's already moved on._

Why did he have to linger so much on the past? He was still in his twenties! These were his glory days, and Jove was wasting them worrying about a woman that probably forgot about him the moment she stepped out of the apartment. Jove didn't need a woman in his life to be happy.

He grabbed another photo album. This time it was full of pictures of Apollo back when he was a baby and when Thalassa and Jove traveled the world. They had both really enjoyed performing at venues in different countries. What intrigued Jove the most, though were the various languages he heard. He could never figure out why exactly he gravitated towards them so much, but it had always been something he wanted to learn more about.

There was this one country that had such an interesting language. It was a country in Asia. He couldn't quite remember the name, but the language itself had such a clear and concise sound that Jove could listen to someone fluent talk for hours.

Although hadn't been able to do that in a while since Thalassa and him agreed to not travel out of the country until Apollo was older. Besides, Apollo should be able to remember visiting a country that wasn't his. That was an experience that stays for you forever, and Jove wanted Apollo to truly enjoy it.

Maybe he'd start saving up for a trip to Europe or that country- if he could ever remember the name of it. That would be a fun goal to try to obtain. He'd have to find a way to make money first…

Jove's phone buzzed in his back pocket. It was Johann calling him. What could he possibly want?

"Where are you?" Johann said once Jove answered.

"Hm?"

"We were supposed to meet up half an hour ago. Where are you?"

"Oh, right! I'll be right there." All of this life coaching had made Jove forget that he was supposed to meet the band. Oh well, he'll make it up to them somehow.

. . .

 _"_ _So, we just sign the lease, right?" Thalassa and I were looking down at the paper that would give us our own apartment._

 _"Mm hm. Then we'll officially be renting it."_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 _"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked. "I mean, it's gonna cost money, and I don't have a job yet..."_

 _"You'll get a job. Here, I'll sign first." Thalassa took the pen from my hand and signed her name in her looping cursive writing. "See, was that so hard?"_

 _"Well everything seems easier when you do it." But regardless, I took the pen from her hand and signed my name. "There. We're renting an apartment now."_

 _Thalassa smiled. "How does it feel to no longer be homeless?"_

 _I smirked. "Well, I can own more than one pair of underwear now."_

 _"That's definitely a plus." She stood up and took the lease. "Let's give this to the landlord."_

 _I had always expected to need a little help from my parents when I signed my first lease. The way they talked to me about moving out made it seem like getting an apartment was the hardest thing you could ever do. But when Thalassa and I showed up to look at an apartment, the landlord showed us where we'd live and walked us through the lease and our obligations._

 _In short, I felt very lied to. But_ _Thalassa didn't know about any of this so while she was listening to the landlord, I was fuming in my seat._

 _She handed over the lease._

 _"Great, you can move tomorrow."_

 _"Thank you." Thalassa shook the landlord's hand, and the deed was done._

 _"I can't believe it was that easy." I remarked once we were walking out of the apartment building._

 _"Why wouldn't it be easy? They want people to rent their apartments."_

 _I shrugged. "I guess you're right. It's just… adult things always seem so impossible."_

 _"Yeah, but anything you don't know how to do is hard." Thalassa stopped in front of the performance hall. "Well, this is my stop." She kissed me._

 _I held up my hand and waved. "See you tomorrow."_

 _The next morning, I made my way to the apartment building. It wasn't too far from where I slept the night before, so it didn't take long to make my way over there. Thalassa was standing next to a mattress. She greeted me with a kiss on the cheek._

 _"What's with the mattress?" I asked._

 _"I found a place that sold me a pretty cheap one so we won't be sleeping on the floor. They just delivered it. I tried to find one that wasn't too uncomfortable, but you can only be so comfortable on a budget, you know?"_

 _"As long as I'm not sleeping on the floor, I'm completely happy."_

 _"I figured you'd say that. But I need your help carrying this into the apartment." Thalassa grabbed one end of the mattress and I grabbed the other. We carried it into the apartment and threw it down on the floor. I collapsed on it and let out a relieved sigh._

 _"I haven't slept on a bed in such a long time."_

 _Thalassa laid down beside me. "It's more comfortable than it was in the store."_

 _"You'd think it would be the opposite." I closed my eyes, taking in the feeling of sleeping on a bed._

 _"Are you sleeping after you just woke up?"_

 _I sat up, and rubbed my eyes. "No, I'm just not used to sleeping on a bed. So, what do we do now that we have a place to live? Besides getting a job."_

 _Thalassa shrugged. "I don't know. Just spend time with each other, I guess."_

 _"Of course."_

 _While we had planned on just staying in our newly acquired apartment, we had to have a way to pay for it, so both of us ended up going out to try and get a job. At the end of the day, we laid on our bed and talked about our luck._

 _"I found a diner that seemed interested to hire me, so I might get a job there."_

 _I nodded. "I applied at a music store looking for cashiers. They weren't absolutely thrilled with my application, but they didn't turn me away either."_

 _"Well maybe they'll take you on." Thalassa yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Jove."_

 _"I might as well turn in, too. 'Night, Thalassa."_

 _. . ._

 _I woke up the next morning to hear retching coming from the bathroom. "Thalassa?"_

 _She was curled around the toilet, occasionally vomiting into the bowl._

 _"Are you okay?" Kneeling next to her, I started rubbing circles into her back._

 _Thalassa nodded. "I-I'm-" She started vomiting again._

 _"Are you sick?"_

 _Thalassa wiped away the remaining bile on her face then said,"I-I don't think so. This has been happening for the past few days..."_

 _I frowned. "Doesn't puking a bunch mean you're pregnant?"_

 _"Do you really think that's possible?" Thalassa coughed. "I mean… I guess it could be, but I didn't think you could get pregnant the first time."_

 _I shrugged. "Do you want me to go buy a pregnancy test?"_

 _She nodded, then went back to vomiting._

 _"O-okay, I'll be right back."_

 _Thalassa couldn't be pregnant… We're too young to be parents. I mean, we don't even have jobs. How are we supposed to raise a baby?_

 _"I can help the next customer," the cashier said._

 _I placed the pregnancy test on the counter._

 _"Didn't use protection, huh?"_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. Protection against what? "I-I guess not." And then I was out the door, heading back to our apartment. Thalassa seemed better as she was sitting on the bed sipping a glass of water. I handed her the test and sat down next to her._

 _"I think there are instructions on the box." I said._

 _Thalassa read the label. "Alright, I'll be right back."_

 _If Thalassa's pregnant and we have a kid… that'll mean I'll be a dad. What if I don't raise them right? What if we can't feed them?_

 _Once she was done, Thalassa sat back down next to me. "Now I just have to wait." She cocked her head to the side. "You're nervous."_

 _"I just… don't know what will happen if we have to raise a kid. I mean, we'll have a whole other human to support, but what if we can't even support ourselves? How could we possibly bring a kid in here?"_

 _Thalassa leaned her head onto my shoulder. "We'll figure something out. If anything, we can just put all of our money into stuff for the baby instead of other furniture. We'll adapt."_

 _"You're really calm about all of this."_

 _With a shrug, she said, "there's no use in stressing out about something we can't control. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and let things happen."_

 _"I wish I could be as calm as you." I muttered._

 _"It takes a little practice, but I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're pretty resourceful, right?"_

 _"I guess."_

 _"I think the test's done." Thalassa stood up, and I followed her into the kitchen where she picked up a little stick of plastic. There were two red lines on the display thing. "Well, it's official. We have a baby on the way."_

 _Tears started forming in my eyes, and I started blinking rapidly to keep them from spilling down my face. "And now I'm crying."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "Don't do that."_

 _I laughed. "I wish it was that easy."_

 _"Are you happy, or sad, or…?"_

 _"Probably a bit of everything." I wasn't even sure I wanted kids, and now here was one on the way._

 _Thalassa looked over at me. "Do you want to do this?"_

 _And now she's putting me on the spot._

 _"Because we don't have to if we're not ready."_

 _I shook my head. "No, I think we can do it. I just need some time to let everything sink in." And then a thought- no,_ the _thought hit me. "What are we going to tell your father?"_

. . .

"Hey, can we start ending practice a little earlier?" I asked my bandmates.

"How earlier?" Nate asked.

"After I pick up Apollo?"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"But we have a demo we need to finish," Anna protested.

"Which we're already mostly done with. Look, I just want to spend more time with Apollo. We stay here 'til 6, and then Apollo and I still have to eat dinner. The way everything is, there just ins't enough time for him and I to spend time together." Jove said. "You understand, right?"

Everyone else looked at one another.

"I guess that's okay," Johann said. "But that means we'll have to work harder than before."

"I can do that. Now what do you want to work on next?"

They worked until it was time for Jove to go pick up Apollo. "Hey, Polly wog!"

Apollo threw his backpack into the car and climbed in. "Hi."

"How was school?"

Apollo just shrugged.

"Did you learn anything?"

Another shrug.

 _He seems a bit off…_

"Is there something going on at school?"

"No."

Jove realized that he wasn't going to get anything else out of Apollo, and just focused his attention on driving. It would only be a matter of time before he figured out what was bothering his son.

He pulled up into his apartment complex and parked.

"Why are we home?" Apollo asked.

"I wanted to spend a little more time at home. Is that okay with you? We can play a game or something."

"Okay." Apollo climbed out of the car and followed Jove into the house. "What's for dinner?"

Jove froze. He hadn't picked anything up.

 _If I take Apollo to the store while he's hungry, I'll spend a fortune_ _at the grocery store_ _._

"Er… how about we go out?"

"Yeah!" Apollo threw down his backpack and ran to the car.

After they had eaten, Jove finally felt safe to bring Apollo to the grocery store. Money was a bit tight, so he ended up buying frozen meals he could throw into the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

"Ooh, can we get chips?" Apollo held up a bag of Doritos.

 _Curse_ _Walmart and their genius marketing schemes._

Jove tried to calculate how much money he spent on dinner. There was probably enough for a bag of chips. "Sure."

Apollo grinned and put the chips in the cart. Once they were at the front, the boy held up a candy bar. "Can I get this too?"

 _I fed you so you for the sole purpose that you wouldn't clean out my bank account!_

"If you put back the chips." Jove said as he placed items on the conveyor belt.

Apollo looked over at the chips, and then to the candy bar. He seemed in anguish over which one to pick. "Daddy, help me choose."

"The candy bar."

Apollo stared at the candy bar. "...I'll get the chips."

"Glad to know I helped."

Apollo put the candy bar back and placed the chips on the conveyor belt.

After everything had been scanned, the final total was displayed. Jove was a few dollars short. Panic seized his mind. He shouldn't have taken Apollo out to dinner. Maybe then he would have had enough to pay for everything. Why did Thalassa have to leave? If she hadn't, none of this would be-

"Sir?" The cashier was getting impatient.

 _I could make Apollo put back the chips. But do I really want him realizing that we're in such bad shape that I can't buy a measly bag of chips?_

"Can I take this off?" Jove held up a frozen meal.

 _We can have leftovers one night._

"Uh… sure?" The cashier took it off, and Jove paid for their groceries.

"Why'd you put that back?" Apollo asked as they walked to the car.

"I changed my mind about what to have for dinner."

"Oh, okay."

Jove started the car and let out a long sigh. Him and the band needed to hurry up and submit that demo. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last on child support alone to support himself and Apollo.

When they got home, Apollo pulled out Chutes and Ladders. Jove got himself a glass of water and they started playing. It seemed like all of these games for little kids relied purely on luck to win. Jove seemed to only get chutes, while Apollo was climbing up the ladders. He couldn't wait until his son was old enough to play Clue. Maybe then they'd be on a level playing ground.

Despite being well ahead of Jove, Apollo seemed to be a bit out of it. Well… as out of it as you can be while playing Chutes and Ladders. Jove would occasionally remind Apollo that it was his turn to spin the spinner, and Apollo would flick the spinner, then go back to spacing out.

"Is something on your mind?" Jove finally asked after getting half way through their second game.

"I guess..." Apollo was avoiding eye contact now.

"Wanna talk about it?" Jove took a sip of water.

"Mommy's pregnant."

…And spit it all over his son.

. . .

"I'm a terrible father." Jove collapsed on the couch in his recording studio.

Anna frowned. "Why do you think that?"

"I did a spit take on my son."

She held back a laugh.

Jove sat up straight. "It's not funny!"

Anna gave up on hold back, and broke down into a laughing fit. "It really is, though." Nate walked by, and Anna caught his attention. "Nate, babe. Wanna hear something funny?"

"I guess."

"Jove did a spit take on Apollo."

"Why would you do that?" Nate asked.

Jove sat up. "Apollo said Thalassa's pregnant."

"What?" Both Anna and Nate said.

"That was _my_ reaction. But, I just… expressed it in the wrong way.

"Holy shit. How long have you been separated?" Anna asked.

"Five months."

"Wow. She doesn't wait, does she?"

Jove collapsed back onto the couch. "Tell me about it."

"Who's pregnant?" Johann asked as he entered the studio.

"Thalassa." Anna said.

"Oh." Johann eyed Jove. "Is that why you're sulking on the couch?"

"Yeah." Jove muttered.

"That's… rough." Johann walked over to his drum set. "Why don't you try to work to get your mind off of everything? Our demo's almost done, so we should be able to send it in by the end of today. Besides, I'd appreciate getting this done since I'm running low on money."

So Johann was in the same spot. That was probably true for everyone here. It would be good for Jove to think about something else for a while. "Yeah, sure."

. . .

 _Thalassa was frowning. "I was thinking about that too." She said. "He needs to know."_

 _I buried my face in my hands. "You're father's going to kill me."_


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 _"_ _No he's not." Thalassa assured me. "He'll have to kill both of us before I let that happen."_

 _"That's assuring…" I muttered._

 _"It should be because my father would never kill me." Thalassa stood up. "We might as well tell him now."_

 _I bolted up. "What? I'm still trying to come to terms with us having a baby, and now you want to tell your father!"_

 _"Yes. We should tell him before it becomes noticeable that I'm pregnant and he figures it out on his own. That conversation would be a million times worse than this one." Thalassa shrugged. "Sometimes, you just have to pick your battles."_

 _"At least let me take a shower before we go over there."_

 _"I'll be waiting."_

 _I drew that shower out for as long as I could. It gave me some time to really think about what was happening. I had just turned 18, and now I was going to raise a kid in… however long it takes to have a baby. We'll have to get stuff for it. How much does all that even cost to go to a hospital? We don't have insurance._

 _I sat down in the shower and tried to focus on the spray hitting my back. I just needed to calm down. We'd figure everything out, just like Thalassa said._

 _There was a knock on the door. "Don't use up all the water, you goober!" Thalassa called out. "I have to take a shower too."_

 _"Goober?"_

 _"Well it got your attention, didn't it?_

 _Eh, she was right. I stepped out of the shower and toweled off. "Here you go,"_

 _"It's about time." Thalassa smirked as she closed the door._

 _And now I'm alone. I need to practice what I'm going to tell Magnifi…_

 _"Remember when you told me to stay away from your daughter? I didn't."_

 _God, my attempts at comedy only make me look like an asshole._

 _"Well, I had no idea how pregnancy worked, so I'm about as surprised as you are- Ugh, no!"_

 _"Jove, are you talking to yourself?" Thalassa called from the bathroom._

 _"...Yes."_

 _"What are you talking about?"_

 _"What I'm gonna say to Magnifi."_

 _"Okay, you keep doing that."_

 _I wonder if Thalassa's having the same problem as me. She couldn't possibly know what to do_ _about something_ _as unexpected as this._ _If she did, I'd truly be amazed._

 _Thalassa emerged from the shower and pulled on her shoes. When I didn't follow, she frowned. "Well come on, my father won't talk to himself."_

 _"You're sure?"_

 _"Absolutely."_

 _Reluctantly, I followed her out the door, my mind still trying to figure out how she could be so calm. After being unable to figure out the answer myself, I just asked._

 _"Well, we have to tell him regardless, so there's no reason to worry about it."_

 _Other than that, we didn't say anything else. I imagine we were both too busy getting lost in our thoughts to actually talk, which wasn't much of a surprise._

 _Once we arrived, Thalassa knocked on the door. It opened, and a confused Magnifi stepped out._

 _"Thalassa? What are you doing here?"_

 _"Well Father, Jove and I want to tell you something."_

 _My heart pounded in my chest as we were shown inside. Magnify sat down in a chair and for once he didn't look like he was angry._

 _Thalassa took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."_

 _Magnifi froze, and there's the anger. His eyes locked on mine."You did this on purpose, didn't you."_

 _"No! Why the hell would I do that?"_ _Well, I hadn't practiced for_ this _line of questioning._

 _Magnifi was pissed._ _"_ _You wanted to pressure Thalassa into keeping you around so you have a place to live. You're just using her for your own benefit."_

 _"Father, that couldn't be any farther from the truth."_

 _"When did this even happen!"_

 _Thalassa for the first time since I met her, attempted to avoid eye contact with her father. "When you were gone for the Magician's Grand Prix."_

 _"You told me you weren't going to have anyone over." Magnifi didn't yell at her like he had me. He spoke in a low voice that scared me more than his regular voice ever could._

 _"I...Yes. I did." Thalassa hung her head low. "I lied to you."_

 _"Thalassa, you're barely an adult. How do you expect to raise a child?"_

 _Thalassa frowned. "We'll figure something out. You raised me by yourself, so it shouldn't be too hard to raise a baby with the two of us. We can work, and make enough money."_

 _Magnifi's voice softened. "It's not just about whether or not you can make enough money, it's about having enough maturity to make hard decisions. I wasn't your age when I had you."_

 _"Well we're going to figure it out as we go along, and nothing you say can change that."_

 _It seemed like Magnifi wanted to move on to an easier target now that he was done talking with Thalassa, so naturally he addressed me. "You've been quiet." His voice had lost its previous softness. Frankly, I was glad. It would have just made me feel bad for being such a disappointment._

 _"I mean..." I looked anywhere that wasn't where Magnify sat. "I don't really know how to feel about all of this. I hadn't expected to raise a kid this early in my life. I don't even know how pregnancy works."_

 _Magnifi did what I could only describe as an outward demonstration of both disgust and embarrassment. He buried his face in his hands and let out a long sigh. "Thalassa, why couldn't you find someone who actually knows what pregnancy is to get you pregnant?"_

 _"Because I like Jove."_

 _"There are much better boys your age..."_

 _"Uh... hi?" I tried to butt in. "Could you two please stop talking about me like I'm not in the room?"_

 _"Jove is perfectly fine!" Thalassa completely ignored me._

 _"I know you want to have a boyfriend and all, but you don't have to pick up the first one you find in the gutter."_

 _Ouch. I don't think my feeble pride can take anymore of this..._ _"I have to use to restroom." I finally announced._

 _Thalassa finally looked over at me. "It's down the hall on the left." She looked back at her father. "I didn't find him in..."_

 _I got out of there before I could hear the rest of their arguing. Once in the bathroom, I sat on top of the toilet seat and pressed my knees against my chest. This argument about me didn't seem to be a new thing. Magnifi's probably voiced his disdain for me countless times, and I'm just now hearing the product of those arguments._

 _What were Thalassa and I going to do once the baby's born? We just moved in together. What if we end up hating each other's guts? There are plenty of couples that I've seen that were miserable around each other. Hell, I lived with one. How badly would that affect our kid if they were in the middle of it?_

 _Great, and now I'm crying again. This day is just getting better and better."_

 _"Jove?" Thalassa was knocking on the door. "Are you okay? You sound upset."_

 _"Y-yeah..." I wiped my eyes. "I'm fine."_

 _"Can you come out of the bathroom, then?"_

 _Before I opened the door, I checked to make sure it wasn't painfully obvious that I had just been crying like a little bitch. It wasn't, so I opened the door. "Hi."_

 _"Did my father make you upset?"_

 _"No. I couldn't care less about what he says."_

 _"You don't have to put on a brave face. I can talk to him if you need me to."_

 _Geez, the one time she catches on to Magnifi making me uncomfortable, and it isn't even at a time when Magnifi is making me feel uncomfortable. Just great. "No really. He doesn't bother me at all."_

 _Thalassa nodded slowly. "Okay, I believe you. Now get out of here, I have to pee."_

 _I laughed as I walked back into the living room. Magnifi was sitting there, waiting for me._

 _"You must think you're some pretty hot stuff for getting Thalassa under your thumb." He said._

 _Here we go again... "No sir. Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about any of this."_

 _Magnifi stood up and stared down at me. He must have been well over six feet. "I'm just going to tell you one thing before you go." He paused, and I took this as a sign to ask what, exactly, he wanted to tell me. "You'll never be a part of this family. I don't care_ how _many children you have."_

 _"W-what?"_

...

Jove looked up at the district courtroom. He had dropped Apollo off at Johann's apartment so there wouldn't be a constant tug at Jove's sleeve asking to go to the bathroom, or to get some water. But Jove had the sneaking suspicion that not bringing Apollo wasn't going to make the proceedings any easier.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

For some reason, it had never really hit Jove that he was no longer married until he was sitting across from Thalassa, listening to both of their lawyers talk in the ever elusive legalese. Thalassa seemed keen on avoiding eye contact with Jove whenever possible, which was perfectly fine with him. If he was given any reason to look at her for too long, he might start feeling sad again.

 _I thought you were going to stop thinking about her, Jove._

It turned out that was an idea better said than done. In the time he had made his priorities list, Jove had managed to push Thalassa out of his mind. At least until he saw her again, then the thoughts came flooding back. Thoughts like, "wow, she really is pregnant," or, "oh look at that ring on her finger." Anything that made him feel inadequate.

 _I seem to be really good at self-deprecation. Maybe I should've became a professor in that instead of a musician. I definitely would've had enough money to hire a better attorney if that were the case._

Why did divorces have to be so expensive in the first place? Jove and Thalassa weren't even one of those super bitter exes that fought over all the assets just to spite each other. All that should've happened was that they'd file the papers, and they'd be separated.

 _Maybe Thalassa and I should've unofficially broken it off. Or at the very least, wait until I actually had the money to afford an attorney._

The past year had practically been Hell on earth for Jove, and probably Apollo, too. He wasn't too sure about Thalassa since her life seemed to be chugging along, what with her new kid on the way and everything. Her eyes didn't have dark rings around them from staying up all night trying to figure out how in the world she was going to pay this month's rent. But maybe she was struggling...

 _Oh wait, she's living with Magnifi. Of course she isn't strapped for cash._

Jove ran a hand through his hair. He needed to stop being resentful of Thalassa. He should be glad his son's mother has a place to go, and isn't stuck living out of a motel room. There's no reason to get mad at Thalassa just because she has her father to fall back on.

 _And a new partner too._

How could Jove have married Thalassa? Because he loved her? He was too young to know what love meant, let alone say he wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone.

 _But couples with children were supposed to be married._ _A kid_ needed _both parents, or they'd grow up to be an ax wielding psychopath or something._

 _...God I was stupid._

Jove must have looked visibly troubled, because Thalassa looked concerned when he looked up. He gave her the cold shoulder, just like she had done to him. Thalassa looked away.

And then the judge made his ruling, signaling for both parties to leave.

 _A year of heartache, and hiring attorneys, and the trial was_ that _short? I wasted so much money on this…_

Wasted. It was a harsh, but fitting word to use. Jove had the same sinking feeling in the pit of this stomach that he had when his car broke down. But at least at the end of the day, he got to drive a fixed car home. All he got out of the divorce was the privilege of saying his wife broke up with him.

Jove called Johann once he was in his car.

"Hello?"

"Hey, the trial's over." Jove said.

"That was fast." Johann replied.

"That's what I was thinking. Anyway, I'll come pick up Apollo. Thanks for taking care of him for me."

"No problem. All he really asked for was some macaroni and cheese. Other than that, he's pretty self sufficient."

"Well, I'll be there in a few minutes."

The two exchanged goodbyes and Jove hung up.

As he was driving, Magnifi had somehow entered his mind. How did he feel about Apollo looking exactly like his father- a man Magnifi despised? Clearly it didn't bother him too much since he doted on Apollo any chance he got, teaching him card tricks, telling stories from the times he traveled the world. Maybe Magnifi wasn't as shallow as Jove had always believed him to be.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind. His life was nuanced enough; he didn't need another internal crises plaguing his thoughts. Right now he needed to focus on the much more important task of driving.

Johann's house was just around the corner, thankfully, and Jove parked in the driveway. After knocking, he was greeted with a hug from Apollo.

"Hey, Pollywog! How was your day?"

"It was great! Johann made me mac and cheese."

Jove smiled and picked his son up."I heard. Well, are you ready to go?"

"C'mon now." Johann said. "You can't just up and leave. Sit down and stay a while." He smirked. "I have some leftover macaroni and cheese."

"Alright, alright. I'll bite."

Jove sat down and looked at the bowl that was in front of him. "You eat the character stuff?"

"It was on sale." Johann rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you can understand my dilemma."

"Yeah, you're right." Jove ate some of his lunch. He hadn't realized how hungry he really was until there was some food in his stomach. Now that he thought about it, had he even had breakfast?

...Probably not.

"So you're single now." Johann remarked.

"Yep."

"How's it feel?"

Jove shrugged. "It's a feeling, I guess."

There was silence for a few minutes until Apollo asked, "does everyone stop loving each other?"

Jove frowned. "Hm?"

"You and Mommy don't love each other any more. Does everyone do that?"

Jove and Johann exchanged glances.

"...No not everyone. Sometimes people think they love each other, but they don't get to know what the other person's really like."

 _Or you think you know them, but find out you're sorely mistaken._

"Oh… how long have you known Johann?"

Jove thought for a moment. "Since before you were born."

"Why don't you date him, then?"

Jove and Johann burst out laughing.

"What?" Apollo was frowning.

"Your dad's as straight as an arrow, Apollo." Johann said after he regained his composure.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I want to date women." Jove said. "Johann wants to date guys, and neither of us can change that."

"Oh." Apollo contemplated this new information. "Okay." And with a shrug he went back to watching TV.

The room went quiet after a while, and Jove looked up to see that his son was sleeping soundly on the couch. "Geez, I with it was that easy to get him to go to bed normally." He remarked. "It would make my life a hell of a lot easier."

"Well now you know what to do. Fill him up on processed dried pasta and sit him in from of a bright LED screen."

Jove shook his head. "He already spends most of his time watching TV anyway." He frowned. "I hope all of this divorce junk isn't messing with his head."

"He seemed fine to me." Johann said.

"Yeah, I thought so too until he broke down at school. I dunno, I try to tell him it's okay to feel sad, but I'm not sure if he's sad and not telling me, or doing just fine."

"Well I guess you'll figure it out when he breaks down again."

"Wow."

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding!"

"I expected that from Anna, not you."

Johann placed his hands over his heart. "Comparing me to Anna is the greatest sin you can commit." He shook his head and laughed. "But seriously. I'm sure he's gonna be fine. Just let him do his own thing. He knows you're there for him and that's all that matters, right?"

Jove's gaze fell on Apollo once again. There was a faint smile on the sleeping boy's face. "Yeah, you're right."

. . .

 _"I feel slightly threatened by your father." I said once we were back in our apartment._

 _"How so?" Thalassa asked._


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 _I relayed what Magnifi had told me while we were alone_ _to Thalassa, who frowned_ _._

 _"That's definitely not like him."_

 _"What part of that isn't like him?"_

 _Thalassa fumbled for words. "I mean, yes, he's told me he doesn't like you, but he's never actually said something like that..."_

 _What reasons could Magnifi have to do that? I can't possibly be threatening to him. I'm 5'2'' and just barely over 100 pounds. Probably._

 _"I need to talk to him about this." Thalassa went to pick up the phone._

 _"We don't have to call him now," I muttered._

 _"Why not?"_

 _Wait… she's absolutely right. Why_ wouldn't _I want Thalassa to talk to her father? She's the only one that can get through to him. But I can't just say never mind now. "I don't know."_

 _"I won't call him if you don't want me to."_

 _No, that's not it. "I mean… if you want to."_

 _Thalassa sighed and placed a hand on her hip. "Do you want me to call or not. I'm not in the mood to play games."_

 _"I don't know." And there I go being an indecisive asshole again._

 _"Well okay then," Thalassa put the phone back and sat down next to me. "So."_

 _"...So?"_

 _"What are we gonna do about us? Y'know, now that we're having a baby and all."_

 _"I mean, people who have kids get married, right?"_

 _"I suppose so." Thalassa replied. "But aren't weddings expensive?"_

 _That is true. "But we don't have to have to get married immediately. We can save up, or something."_

 _Thalassa pressed her knees into her chest. "I never imagined that I'd get married when I was 18."_

 _"I mean, do you not want to get married? It's cool if you don't."_

 _"No, I didn't mean that I_ _don't_ _want to get married, it's just unexpected is all."_

 _"Yeah, I never even_ wanted _kids before. But I guess that's out the window."_

 _Thalassa stared at the wall ahead of her. "I've always wanted kids." She whispered. "They're so small, and- and innocent."_

 _I shrugged. "I guess they're cool."_

 _Thalassa looked me in the eyes. "Do we really want to do this? This is a big deal, and I need you to be honest."_

 _I started to say that I was sure, but a pang of doubt struck me. "I-I don't know. You're right; this is a big deal, but what other options do we really have? It seems like you want to have a kid, and what are we supposed to do after that? I can't just leave the picture. That can't be good for the kid." I sighed. "And I want to stay with you, so there's really only one option."_

 _Thalassa was silent for a few moments. "Well… we haven't thought of any names..."_

 _Alright, now we're moving away from the heavy stuff. I shrugged. "I like Apollo."_

 _"That was fast."_

 _It_ _really was_ _. I had never really thought of the name before. Who even names their kid 'Apollo'? "_ _Have you thought of any names?"_

 _"_ _Well if we're going to go with a gods theme, how about Artemis if we have a girl?"_

 _"That is indeed a good name, but what if we have twins?"_

 _Thalassa raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want to think about having twins?"_

 _"...You're right. That would be a nightmare."_

 _"So we're going for Apollo and Artemis?"_

 _"Mm hm."_

 _She was giving me a look that said 'are we seriously making puns out of our kid'?_

 _"Okay, I wasn't the one who came up with Artemis! You're the punny one, not me."_

 _"I didn't even say anything."_

 _"But you were giving me a look."_

 _"I think that's your guilty conscience talking."_

 _"I'm not guilty!" I shot back. "You're guilty."_

 _"It's_ my _guilt that's making you think I'm giving you looks?"_

 _I could feel my face grow warm. "Well when you put it that way, it makes me sound a little ridiculous."_

 _"I don't think you needed me to make you sound ridiculous."_

 _"I cannot believe you just went there."_

 _Thalassa laughed. It took her a few moments to regain her composure, but when she did, she said, "so we're 100% sure we want to do this?"_

 _"Yeah," I said. "I'm cool with it. Are you?"_

 _"Mm hm. I just… don't want you to be unhappy. It's not fair to sacrifice your happiness just for my sake."_

 _"I'm fine, really. Besides, you've seen me at my absolute worst. We're in this for the long haul."_

 _I figured this was the opportune time to lean in and kiss Thalassa. She wrapped her arms around my torso and laid her head on my shoulder._

 _"I never figured being an adult would be so difficult."_

 _"A-Are you okay?" I asked as I rubbed circles into her back._

 _"I don't know. After talking to my father, and hearing how he's talking to you, I'm finding it harder to figure out how I should be feeling about everything." Her voice faltered. "I'm trying to be optimistic… but nothing seems to be going the way it should be." Tears streaked Thalassa's face._

 _"I know." I whispered, trying to keep myself from breaking down. "I'm..." My voice cracked. "I'm trying to make sense of it all too."_

 _"I want to be a kid again."_

 _"I do to-" Unable to hold back my tears any longer, I broke down crying._

 _There we were, the two of us sitting in a crumpled heap on a mattress in the middle of our bare apartment, ugly crying on each others shoulder._

 _"Y'know," I sniffled. "In all the months I've known you, I've never seen you cry before today."_

 _Thalassa pushed her fists into her eyes as she said, "well I don't like crying in front of people… It-it embarrasses me." She flopped down on the mattress. "I don't know why, but it does."_

 _"You mean you don't understand why showing your vulnerabilities to complete strangers could possibly be embarrassing?"_

 _Thalassa let out a short laugh. "Okay, point taken. But I should probably be comfortable with crying in front of you."_

 _"Yeah, probably."_

 _"Especially since you've cried in front of me."_

 _"Yeah..."_

 _"Multiple ti-"_

 _"Okay, I think you've made your point."_

 _. . ._

"Is that the letter from the label?" Anna asked as everyone crowded around Nate who held a white envelope in his hand.

"I think so."

"Well don't just stand there, open it!"

With shaking fingers, Nate tugged at the flap, careful to preserve the contents inside. Once the piece of paper was pulled out, he wet his lips and spoke in a nervous voice.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"We have listened to your demo, and are proud to say that we would like for you to finish the album." Everyone in the band exchanged an excited look. "You have until January 5th to provide us with a finished product, congratulations."

"Holy shit!" Johann wrapped everyone in a bear hug. "We actually did it! Our album got picked up!"

"I can't believe we actually managed to do it..." Jove mumbled.

"Well you better believe it!" Anna pulled him into a headlock, and released a torrent of noogies upon his head. "Now all we gotta do is write the other half of the album and we can possibly quit our day jobs!"

"I thought the band was our day job..." Jove mumbled.

"It was a figure of speech." Anna thumped him on the forehead.

"We have to do something to celebrate." Nate said. "I suggest going to that bar that opened up recently. You know, the one on Main Street?"

"Ooh, good idea!" Johann said. "I've been meaning to check it out."

"Sounds like fun." Anna said. "Let's go."

The band piled into Jove's car and drove down to the Tavern Bar.

"So who's gonna be the designated driver?" Nate asked.

"Pfft, the cab driver." Anna said.

"I'll do it." Jove cut in. "I probably shouldn't get drunk because Apollo's going to be home tomorrow."

"Oh right, I forgot he's coming home early. Thalassa's going in for a sonogram tomorrow, right?" Johann said.

"Yep. Gonna find out if she's having a girl or a boy."

"What does Apollo think about everything?" Nate asked.

"He seems excited about having a sibling. Told me he's been lonely when he visits Thalassa."

Anna cocked her head to the side. "Why only when he's with Thalassa?"

"They don't live around a lot of kids. Apollo probably just doesn't have any friends over there."

"Poor thing."

Jove shrugged and moved to get out of the car. "Either way, he's happy, so I'm happy."

The bartender greeted the newly employed group with a nod. His bar wasn't anything like any of them was used to. The seats weren't sticky, the floor was clean, and the air didn't smell of piss. The sheer cleanliness and actual atmosphere screamed that this was going to be a splurge. At least for everyone who was drinking alcohol anyway.

"What can I get you all?" the bartender asked. Everyone except for Jove ordered alcohol. When the drinks were served, a glass was slid over to the man. "Gotta make sure you aren't dehydrated, eh?"

Jove smiled and sipped his glass. "Appreciate it." This bar even served Coke. How does it _not_ have people lined down the block?

His gaze traveled to the cup in Johann's hand. He had ordered some fancy drink that almost looked too pretty to down. Almost. Jove wanted to ask for a sip, but he knew that a sip would lead to a drink, and a drink would lead to a chug, and a chug would lead to alcoholism.

So Jove stuck to his Coke.

The TV mounted on the wall switched from the endless stream of commercials to a flashy news channel graphic where a man in a sharp suit started reading the traffic report.

"Geez… must be a slow day." The bartender muttered. "There's gotta be something more interesting going on..."

"In other news, a staff member of La Sierra High School has been arrested on molestation charges," the band exchanged worried looks. "Guy Dance was a guidance counselor accused of molesting students over the course of his 25 year career. The victims were allegedly boys, mostly sophomores and freshmen who were bullied and came to Dance for help. While they were there-"

The bartender finally changed the channel. "God, when I asked for interesting, I didn't mean that. How can those newscasters say all of that so calmly?"

"They're just reading whatever's on the teleprompter." Anna remarked. "They probably just zone out while they read."

Nate furrowed his brow. "But you'd think they'd at least read something that terrible with _some_ emotion."

Jove gripped his drink, his hands shaking. "The police need to round up all the pedophiles like him and throw away the keys."

"Amen," Johann muttered. "I hope he gets what's comin' to him."

"He better." Jove sloshed the contents of his glass, somehow managing to not get anything on the counter. "Manipulating kids who trusted him…"

"How do you think he got away with it for so long?" Anna asked.

"Kids can't fight back..." Jove muttered. "Especially against people with good reputations. Must've been someone really important that ratted him out."

"What has our world come to?" The bartender shook his head and finally turned the TV off altogether. "That guy was running around for years hurtin' kids that couldn't do a damn thing. That's gotta mess with their minds."

"Yeah..." Johann chugged his drink. "Wonder how those kids are reacting to the news?"

. . .

Jove returned home exhausted. It was fun to get out of the house and celebrate such a monumental occasion in his life, but he couldn't help but feel that the evening was cheapened by the news report.

Was it selfish to say that? Probably, but Jove couldn't change how he felt. Stuff like that stuck to him like duct tape on a freshly painted wall. It made Jove sick, made his hands shake, too.

All of this stress was making the allure of alcohol harder to resist. Why had Jove bothered to volunteer to be the designated driver? Johann probably would've done it, and right now Jove could've been on his way to forgetting what his name was.

 _Enough of that. You're doing well now. There's no need to_ _sabotage yourself._

Jove went back to thinking about his album getting picked up. That seemed like a safe topic. After all these years of rejection, the band could now proudly say they had a contract with a record label. Hopefully their album would sell well and get Jove out of his shit hole apartment. That was something to look forward to. Right?

 _I need to go to bed. Alcoholism may be dangerous and self destructive, but I've never heard of people dying of a sleep overdose. Besides, I could use a good night's sleep to clear my head. Apollo's gonna be home tomorrow, so I won't be alone then._

Jove's internal crisis would just have to wait until tomorrow.

. . .

 _"_ _My father said he would pay for our wedding." Thalassa said quietly._

 _I narrowed my eyes."Why?"_

 _"He said I shouldn't have to postpone such an important event in my life just because you and I can't afford it."_


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 _"That is… surprisingly generous of him." I said. "And he doesn't have any ulterior motives for any of this?"_

 _Thalassa frowned. "What could he possibly want from us?"_

 _I held up my hands. "I don't know, but I find it strange that he's offering to pay for our wedding. Especially since he's made it clear that he doesn't think too kindly of me."_

 _"My father isn't always out to get you." Thalassa said._

 _"Okay, okay, you're right. I should be glad that he's helping us out. Sorry."_

 _We sat in a tense silence for a while until Thalassa murmured, "I don't want to cut my father out of my life."_

 _"I-I never suggested that you should."_

 _"I know. I just… wanted to say it. Everything feels more permanent when I speak it out loud."_

 _Back to silence._

 _"...I'm glad your Dad's paying for the wedding."I said once the silence bordered on unbearable. "We never would have been able to afford it… so I'm glad he stepped in."_

 _Thalassa nodded. "I guess we'll get rings later?"_

 _"Somehow I feel like we will have to buy those on our own."_

 _"I wonder how you came to that conclusion." Thalassa twiddled her thumbs. "My father gave me his credit card, so we can get everything we need at some point."_

 _"Guess when we do it depends on when we want to have the wedding. What do you think?"_

 _"I want to have it as soon as possible."_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Mm hm. I don't want to wait until after we have the baby, since we won't have anywhere to keep it during the ceremony, and we'll end up having to hire a sitter, and I don't want to wait too long because then I'll be too pregnant for the wedding."_

 _I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't think you cared too much about stuff like that."_

 _"I don't. But I also don't want to have to wear a maternity dress."_

 _"Fair enough. If we're going to have our wedding ASAP, we might as well get started on the shopping, right?"_

 _"Yep."_

 _We left the apartment and started down the street._

 _"The wedding dress place is the closest, so let's go there." Thalassa said. "I chose a second hand store since wedding dresses are so expensive."_

 _"But… we're not paying."_

 _"That doesn't mean we can take advantage of my father!"_

 _"Yeah, you're right."_

 _Thalassa led the way to the store without uttering another word. I tried to think of what to say, but nothing seemed appropriate. Once we stopped in front of the door to the dress shop I finally uttered a simple, "I'm sorry."_

 _"Hm?" Thalassa cocked her head to the side. "Sorry for what?"_

 _"Upsetting you."_

 _Thalassa rubbed the back of her neck and attempted to look anywhere that wasn't at me. "You didn't upset me."_

 _I frowned. "You don't have to hide your feelings. You never let me, so you shouldn't either."_

 _She hesitated, and resulted to simply shaking her head. After a few moments she finally said, "lately, I've just felt like nothing's going to get better. You and my father are still going to butt heads forever, and it feels like all of it is my fault."_

 _"How could any of that be your fault?"_

 _"I feel like I'm forcing you to be a parent. I'm the whole reason we're in this mess in the first place. If I hadn't invited you up..."_

 _I placed my hands on Thalassa's shoulders. "We were going to have to deal with Magnify not liking me regardless of whether you got pregnant or not. What's happened is no one's fault, and you're not forcing me to do anything, okay?"_

 _Thalassa nodded slowly. "Okay." She sniffled. "Well, let's go get my dress, huh?"_

 _We walked into the shop where a cheery woman greeted us. "Hello, how may I help you?"_

 _Thalassa wiped her eyes and grinned. "Hi, we're looking for a wedding dress." I could still see the sadness in her eyes, but her charade seemed to fool the shopkeeper._

 _The other woman looked perplexed. "You're dress shopping with your future husband?"_

 _Thalassa and I exchanged a look._

 _"Yes?" She said._

 _"But it's bad luck!"_

 _"I… don't really care._

 _The woman nodded, seemingly perplexed. "I see... Right this way."_

 _I sat down on a bench while Thalassa and the shop keeper tried on dresses for what felt like forever. Looking at the clock revealed that in reality, it had only been twenty minutes. I thought time was supposed to go by faster as you got older._

 _"How do I look?" Thalassa emerged from the dressing room wearing a bouncy, backless dress that stopped at her knees._

 _"It looks like it was made for you!" I sprung out of the bench to admire my future wife. "How could someone give this dress up?"_

 _"I suppose they wanted me to have it." Thalassa grinned as she swished the skirt around. "I'll get this one."_

 _"Great! I'll ring you up."_

 _After paying for the dress we were back outside. Thalassa was grinning and chatting up a storm._

 _"I can't wait to see you in a tuxedo."_

 _"Wait. So you're saying you_ don't _want me to go to the wedding wearing jeans and a t-shirt?"_

 _Thalassa lightly smacked my arm. "No! I may have told you I didn't want to needlessly spend money, but that doesn't mean we're not going to get you a tux."_

 _"Darn." I shook my head. "So, I guess you're feeling better?"_

 _"A little bit. I'll feel better when you get a tuxedo, though."_

 _The rest of the day was spent preparing for our big day. We ate cake, tried on more clothes, and picked out table cloths. Thalassa felt better the more stores we hopped between, and if I'm honest, I found it somewhat therapeutic to flip through countless books filled beautiful food and decor and be able to say, 'if I really wanted to buy that. I could get that.'_

 _At the end of the day, both of us flopped down on our mattress, the light from our only lamp casting soft shadows on our faces as the sun set._

 _"Y'know, I feel better after pouring my heart our to you." Thalassa said while we stared at the ceiling._

 _"It's almost as if not bottling up your emotions makes you feel better."_

 _Thalassa nudged me. "I know! Well... I guess I didn't."_

 _"Care to elaborate?"_

 _"I guess I thought you'd think I was unsure about everything if I told you what I was thinking."_

 _"Being unsure about things is fine." I reached for Thalassa's hand. "Personally, I'd think you were an idiot if you were 100% sure about every single thing you did. You'd be an idiot, or just really foolhardy."_

 _"That's a bit cynical."_

 _"My whole life's built around cynicism, but that's beyond the point. I'm trying to say that you can talk to me. We've ugly-cried on each other's shoulders, so we've already seen the bad parts of each other."_

 _Thalassa squeezed my hand. "I'm glad I found you."_

 _"I'm glad you found me too."_

. . .

There was a knock on the front door. Jove had no idea who could possibly want to talk to him so late at night. When he looked through the peephole, he found Zak holding a sleeping Apollo.

Before he could register what he was doing, the door had been thrown open, and Jove was standing face-to-face with his ex-wife's fiance.

"Long time no see, huh?" Zak said, a grin spreading across his face.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"What happened? Who died? Is Apollo okay?"

Zak laughed and almost shook the foundation of the apartment building. "You always were as nervous as a mouse! Everything's fine. Thalassa went into labor, and asked me to bring Polly Boy home."

Jove relaxed a little bit. "Oh, well… congratulations."

"Thanks!" He handed over Apollo, and turned to leave.

"Um… what did you name her?"

"Trucy. She's the sweetest little thing. Healthy too."

 _Healthy. Was he trying to imply something?_

Jove nodded and exchanged goodbyes with Zak. After he closed the door, Jove looked down at Apollo, who had awakened at some point.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm tired."

"I know. We're gonna get you to bed."

Apollo buried his face in his father's neck. "Okay."

Jove glanced at the oven clock. It read 11:37. It was way past his son's bed time. In fact, Jove wasn't supposed to be up this late either, but before he could make his way back to bed, Apollo had beckoned to his father.

"Can you play me something?"

"Apollo, it's way too late." Jove yawned, hoping the act would rub off on Apollo. It did, but the little boy would not be swayed.

"Please?"

Jove sighed and got out his guitar; the guitar he had almost destroyed over a year ago. "What do you want me to play?" He asked, despite knowing the answer.

"What you always play!"

Jove started to pluck at the strings, humming along softly. When Apollo was a baby, Jove had created the song with the intention of calming him down. Jove had liked the chords, and wanted to turn it into a full-blown song, but had never been able to come up with any lyrics. And so it remained a simple lullaby he hummed to his son when persuaded. Luckily, Apollo always fell asleep by the end of the first verse so Jove didn't have to figure out what to write next.

Tonight was no different, and Jove kissed Apollo's head and retired to his room to hopefully get some sleep.

Of course, his brain couldn't even grant him that simple wish. Jove's mind flooded with the insecurities and doubts. Some recent, and some as old as Apollo.

 _Why did Thalassa leave me?_

Jove shook his head. He needed to stop thinking like this.

 _It's not fair. We were perfectly happy…_

He curled into a ball, sorrow wrapping around his heart and squeezing it. The deafening silence suffocated him. He needed something to drink. This pain was too much. Tears forced their way down Jove's face.

 _What does Zak have that I don't?_

He grabbed his phone and called Johann before everything could get out of hand. He couldn't get drunk while Apollo was home.

"What?" Johann was groggy.

"I need you to get over here." Jove managed to choke out through his sobs.

"I'll be right there."

Once Johann arrived, Jove had calmed down a little bit.

"Alright, where are your blankets?"

Jove pointed a shaking finger to the linen closet. Johann grabbed a comforter and wrapped it around his friend's shoulders. Once the blanket was secured, Johann poured Jove a glass of water.

"Thanks..." Jove took a sip.

"Alright, now tell me what's going on." Johann added in, "you haven't been drinking, have you?"

"No. I have that much self control. I just… I dunno. Thalassa had her baby, and I guess I just wasn't prepared to have Zak barge in at eleven o'clock and start talking about his kid. 'Oh she's the sweetest thing, and healthy too...' I think I'm just overreacting."

"I mean, I've never had a divorce before, but I can imagine it would be hard to see your ex's life and how they're doing, but comparing yourself to her isn't going to make you feel better."

"I know..." Jove said miserably. "It's just so _hard_. Here I am, working my ass off to make ends meet, and there's Thalassa living comfortably back with her father, and his weird assistants, and her 'healthy' baby. I want her to be out of my life completely, but that can never happen." He took another sip of his water.

"Sometimes I regret ever marrying Thalassa, but then I think of Apollo, and the life I've had, and then I'm filled with shame. How could I be so blind?" Jove looked at Johann. "I never wanted to be a parent, y'know? I hated kids… But that all changed when I held Apollo. He was so… so small, and I couldn't help but think, 'this is a person. I made him, and I'm going to protect him until my very dying breath'.

"It was almost instinctual. I had never felt that immediate need to protect someone. Not for my closest friends, not even for Thalassa, but here I was, eighteen years old, pledging my life to this tiny human." Jove shook his head. "And I had the gall to wish it had never happened."

Johann rubbed circles into Jove's back. "You were married to Thalassa for six years; it's natural to feel like that time was wasted."

"But it wasn't… Thalassa and I were raising Apollo. We were teaching him how to walk, how to speak..." Jove clutched his head in his hands. "God, I'm such a fucking idiot."

Johann whispered consoling words as he continued to rub circles into his friend's back. "No your not… you're just going through a rough phase. You're gonna be alright once you get through it."

"I'm not worried about later. I'm worried about what's happening right now."

"What's happening now?"

"I'm battling an inferiority complex while trying to take care of my son! I'm trying to get my music career off the ground, and sometimes I want to get so shitfaced I can't count to five."

"Do you think you need to go to rehab?"

"No, I haven't gotten to that point yet, but sometimes I feel that urge to just buy a couple six packs and forget about life for a little while. Once that feeling subsides, all I'm left with this sad failure of a person."

"You're not a failure..."

"I know that!" Jove snapped. "I know that I have so much going for me, but I have this one, terrible addiction that I just can't seem to shake. No matter what I do, I always come back to it some way or another."

"You don't have any alcohol in the house, do you?"

"No, of course I don't. I got rid of everything months ago."

"Then I don't see what the problem is..." Johann said, making sure he chose his words as carefully as possible.

"The problem is me." Jove snapped back. "Look at me! I'm wrapped in a blanket, demanding that my best friend interrupt his night just to fix me a cup of water."

"Jove, maybe you should quiet down a little bit..."

"Now I know why Thalassa dumped me. I'm such a weak little piece of shit that I can't even-"

Johann smacked Jove. The other man raised a hand to his face and touched his stinging cheek. "Why did you-"

"Stop playing the victim."

Jove looked at his friend, bewildered. "What?"

"You can't better yourself if you're constantly beating yourself up. You're making my blood boil just listening to you."

Jove went silent.

"Thalassa dumping you wasn't your fault, and you need to get that in your head, okay?"

"O-okay."

"She's always gonna be there. You need to accept that, and stop freaking out every time something happens to her that's slightly better than what's happening to you. Just do that for your kid. None of this is about you anymore." Johann went back into the kitchen and threw Jove an ice pack. "Now are we done here, or do I have to smack some more sense into you?"

Jove winced as he put the ice pack against his cheek. "I heard you loud and clear."

"Good, now if we're done here, I'm gonna go back to bed. Are you gonna be okay?"

Jove hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Good, 'cause I'm tired." Johann made his way out the door. "Goodnight, Jove."

"Goodnight, Johann."

. . .

It was barely seven in the morning when Jove awoke to the TV playing in the living room. He tried to block out the sound, but it was no use; it was time for him to wake up.

Stumbling bleary-eyed into the living room, Jove found Apollo watching a rerun of an old cartoon, and sitting upside down.

"Hey, Polly wog. How's the view down there?" Jove said as he stifled a yawn.

"Pretty good."

"You hungry?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

. . .

 _Today was finally the day. We were finally gonna get married. I was nervous as Thalassa swished through the halls, pulling me behind her._

 _"Only an hour until the wedding." She said. "I'm a little nervous..."_

 _"Y-yeah?"_


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

 _"Yeah, I never thought I'd get married this young." Thalassa looked over at me. "Not that I'm upset about it," she added quickly._

 _I smiled. "I wasn't assuming you were."_

 _"I feel like we're going to have a boy."_

 _"That's a bit random. Why do you think that?"_

 _"I feel it in my bones."_

 _"_ _So you have sex guessing bones?"_

 _Thalassa laughed. "My father was able to guess that I was going to be a girl. I think it runs in the family."_

 _I cocked an eyebrow. "And what if you're wrong?"_

 _"I guess I'll just be wrong then. If we have more children, I'm bound to get it right at some point."_

 _That last statement made me feel a little uneasy, and Thalassa seemed to notice. "Oh, sorry. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself, huh?" She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I think I'm just getting excited."_

 _"Just a bit."_

 _"Well if it isn't the lucky couple!" A voice from behind us called out. We both turned around to see Zak and Valant coming through the open doors, Magnifi trailing behind them._

 _I had only been acquainted with Zak and Valant a couple times since their recent employment. Magnifi seemed to realize that Thalassa wasn't interesting in pursuing magic any more, and had employed the two new men to take her place. They seemed to be okay people, despite Valant's constant use of alliteration, and Zak's booming voice._

 _"Oh, hi!" Thalassa called out, waving to the group. "_ _Did you find it here okay?"_

 _"Yep." Zak slapped Valant's back. "No thanks to Valant, here."_

 _Valant, seemingly annoyed responded, "I had_ _prepared the directions, but this dastardly devil had to go and lose them_ _."_

 _I exchanged glances with Thalassa, who turned her attention to her father. "Thank you for paying for everything."_

 _Magnifi held up his hand. "You don't need to keep thanking me, Thalassa. I'm happy to do it."_

 _"I know, but I feel like I need to thank you more."_

 _Magnifi waved off her remark. "Nonsense. Just enjoy yourself."_

 _Thalassa planted a kiss on his cheek and tapped Jove's arm. "C'mon, I gotta check a few things."_

 _"He is being really nice. Why is he being so nice?" I asked once we were out of earshot._

 _"I made him promise to leave you alone." Thalassa pat her stomach. "Told him it wouldn't be good for the baby."_

 _"Damn, you're... kinda evil."_

 _Thalassa shrugged. "Whatever it takes to keep today drama free."_

 _"It was a good call."_

 _Thalassa was checking to make sure the food was prepared, and the DJ had everything he needed. Both were going well, which left Thalassa restless. She paced back and forth with a sharp click of her heels._

 _I cocked my head to the side. "Why do you wear heels? You're a giant."_

 _"I'm only 5'8"."_

 _"Like I said, you're a giant."_

 _"Then why don't you try them on?" Thalassa slipped off her heels and returned to her original height._

 _"Y'know I think I will!" We traded shoes and I began to see the world from a completely new perspective. "Woah… I'm farther from the ground."_

 _"Try walking around."_

 _I almost fell flat on face after the first step. "Holy shit. How do you survive?"_

 _"Practice. Lots and lots of practice."_

 _A thought crossed my mind. "My dad would've already called me a fruit right about now. He would've looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'son, you need to take those off right now. I didn't raise a fruit'."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "Do you think about your father often?"_

 _"I don't. I haven't thought about my parents in 2 years."_

 _"That's really sad."_

 _I shrugged. "I guess. I just wish they would've given me more reasons to think fondly of them."_

 _"You weren't thinking fondly of your father then, were you?"_

 _"Nope, I wasn't." I looked around for a clock. "What time is it? The ceremony should be starting soon, right?"_ _I turned to walk into the ceremony hall. "I just go out here, right?"_

 _"Mm hm."_

 _I nodded, and walked into the beautiful room. Bouquets were meticulously arranged to match the walls and carpet, the arch Thalassa and I were supposed to stand under had ribbon woven into it. I noticed the preacher was standing at his stand, so I walked over._

 _"Hello. Excellent day for a wedding, huh?"_

 _"Absolutely." He said without looking up from his book._

 _"Do you perform many weddings?"_

 _"A decent amount."_

 _"Do you get to stay for the reception?"_

 _"Not usually."_

 _"Oh..." The conversation had hit a dead end way too quickly. "Would you like to stay for ours? We picked out a pretty good cake."_

 _"No thank you, I have church service tomorrow morning."_

 _"Yeah, I guess the reception goes on for a while. Well I hope you enjoy your church service."_

 _Thalassa's various family members trickled into the room, sparing me from my awkward conversation. There was an aunt with several children following behind her, and her husband who was making sure each kid stayed still, another uncle who arrived alone and sat in the back, and a Thalassa's grandparents who seemed to have the same permanent frown on their faces that Magnifi had. Thalassa had never mentioned who any of them were until she started writing out invitations. I got the feeling that she didn't visit her extended family very often._

 _Once everyone sat down, the music started, and Magnifi walked Thalassa down the aisle. She stood across from me and crinkled her nose, causing me to smile. A camera flashed, and the preacher started talking._

 _"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join Jove and Thalassa in matrimony commended to be honorable among all," he started. "Do you, Thalassa take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"_

 _"I do," she said, grinning from ear to ear._

 _"Do you, Jove, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"_

 _"I do,"_

 _"Then I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." We kissed to a rousing applause. When we pulled apart, I even saw Magnifi clapping. It probably wasn't for me, but the fact that he wasn't being a stick in the mud was reassuring._

 _Now that the reception was underway, the wedding photographer started posing us for shots. "Alright, now I need the husband, and the father in law to shake hands."_

 _I froze. "Uh… why?"_

 _"I've found that it promotes goodwill between the different sides of the family. Shaking hands shows unity and respect. I would ask your wife to participate as well, but I don't see your parents around."_

 _I ignored the last remark and said, "I mean… it's gonna be really awkward."_

 _"Are you saying that you don't want to do it?" The photographer looked slightly appalled._

 _"No no no no no!" I shook my hands, hoping to keep the other man from attacking me. "I'll do it if Magnifi wants to."_

 _"_ _Wonderful! Go find the father in law."_

 _"I'll go look for him." And with that Thalassa had disappeared._

 _"Don't take this the wrong way, but who exactly hired you?"_

 _"Mr. Gramarye did. I believe I was going to photograph his wedding seventeen years ago, but it was called off all of a sudden."_

 _I knit my eyebrows together. "And I'm guessing you don't know why?"_

 _"Nope. I'm not given that information."_

 _"Darn."_

 _Thalassa returned with Magnifi in tow. He was about as confused as I was. "What are we doing?"_

 _"You're gonna get a picture with Jove. It promotes unity in the family."_

 _"I don't see how that-"_

 _"You hired him so you're going to do what he says." Thalassa said._

 _Unable to argue, Magnifi approached me. I had never realized how much he towered over me until just this instant. It made it hard to not shake as we waited for the photographer to give us our directions. I couldn't tell if Magnifi was uncomfortable. He just… frowned at me, just staring and frowning._

 _"Alright, now just shake hands, and we'll be done."_

 _Magnifi closed his big hand around mine, and looked me straight in the eyes. In a moment of pure discomfort, I forced the biggest smile I could muster, teeth and all._

 _"Wonderful!" And then it was over. As quickly as it had began, the picture had been taken, and Magnifi walked away._

 _Thalassa was laughing as she stood beside the photographer._

 _"What's so funny?"_

 _"You and my father. You two are just so silly sometimes."_

 _I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, if you had to shake hands with one of my relatives you didn't get along with, you'd be uncomfortable too."_

 _Thalassa raised an eyebrow. "I don't doubt that, but I also don't doubt that you'd be laughing at my expense as well."_

 _"Well, ya got me there." I wrapped an arm around her waist._

 _Zak walked up to us. "Hey, Thalassa, you're looking lovely." Zak said._

 _Thalassa smiled politely. "Thanks."_

 _"You should come over some time. Have dinner and all that."_

 _Thalassa rubbed her shoulder. "Maybe. I've been meaning to have dinner with father."_

 _"I meant come over to my place."_

 _Okay that was enough. "Can you please stop flirting with my_ wife _?" I said. "You're making her uncomfortable."_

 _Zak frowned. "And what are you gonna do about it?"_

 _I pursed my lips. "I'll hit you..."_

 _Zak raised an eyebrow._

 _"...In the head... with my guitar case."_

 _My words hung in the empty space. Then Zak laughed. "I like this guy! You picked a good one, Thalassa."_

 _Thalassa let out a forced laugh. "Thanks..."_

 _And then he was gone._

 _"That can't be good for the baby," I remarked._

 _"No, not at all," Thalassa replied, still watching Zak saunter away._

 _"Glad he's gone."_

 _"Indeed."_

 _. . ._

Jove, Apollo, and the rest of the band were celebrating the release of their album back at their studio. Apollo spun around in the mascot stool, while the rest of the band sipped their non-alcoholic beverages and nibbled on Walmart brand crackers. They hadn't had much money to throw the launch party, but regardless, it was shaping up to be a great evening.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Man, I never thought this would happen," Johann remarked. "Looks like our pipe-dream actually panned out, huh?"

Jove nodded. "Yeah, who woulda thunk it?"

"You don't sound the least bit excited."

"I'm just tired; I stayed up all last night budgeting. Hopefully money won't be so tight once this album sells."

Johann let out a sigh. "No one ever said the path of an artist was easy, huh?"

"Nope."

Apollo had disappeared into a separate room while Jove and his band-mates continued talking. "Do you think we should start working on another album?" Anna asked.

"I dunno, maybe?" Jove said. "Not tonight, though."

"Well duh." Anna took a sip of her drink.

In the other room, there was the sound of air being blown through some kind of pipe. "Hey, Polly wog?" Jove called out

Someone, most likely Apollo, scrambled around. "Yeah?"

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing."

Jove stood up. "I'm gonna go check on him..."

Apollo was struggling to put away Anna's trumpet. He looked up and froze. "Hey." Jove said.

Apollo stared with wide eyes at his father. "Hi."

"Ya need some help?"

The little boy stared down at the trumpet. "Yeah..."

Anna walked into the room. "So I take it you were trying to play my trumpet?"

"I'm sorry."

She crouched down and picked up her instrument. "Next time ask so I can wipe off the mouthpiece. It's got my lipstick and germs on it. You don't want either of those." She took a wet rag and wiped the mouthpiece down thoroughly. "Now try."

Apollo took the trumpet and blew into the mouthpiece, but didn't make much sound. "Did I break it?"

"Nah. You just gotta know how to blow into it. Try pressing your lips together and buzzing your lips like this," Anna demonstrated.

Apollo pressed his lips together, and tried to buzz while blowing into the trumpet, but to no avail. "I can't do it."

"Don't say that..." Anna said. "Try again."

Apollo still couldn't do it.

"Try spitting into it." Jove suggested.

"Jove that's not gonna-"

 _ **Blap.**_

Apollo looked down at the trumpet, astonished. "Wow..."

Jove raised a knowing eyebrow at Anna.

"Okay so spitting works. Try to play a little higher."

Apollo furrowed his brow, and pushed out a note that was louder rather than higher.

"Okay… try to blow air a little faster."

He forced out a sloppy, yet higher pitched note.

"Good job!" Anna pulled out a blank music sheet, and started scribbling down some notes. "Can you read sheet music?" She asked.

"Yeah, Mommy teaches me piano."

"Really?" Jove asked.

"Mm hm. I can play Chopsticks! I'm not very good though..."

"Great! Let's try to play some whole notes then. This is a G. You don't have to hold down any fingers, but try to match this pitch..." Anna turned to Nate. "Hey, babe, can you play a G, please?"

Nate pushed a key on the piano.

"There, try to match that pitch."

Apollo spat out another note that sounded vaguely close to the G Nate had played.

"Good!"

And with that, the party had morphed into an impromptu trumpet lesson. Anna spent a few hours teaching Apollo how to play the trumpet. The other band mates watched as Anna attempted to teach trumpet Apollo. It was long past dark once Apollo and Jove got home.

"I like the trumpet." Apollo said as Jove carried his son to bed.

"Yeah?"

"Mm hm. I wanna learn how to play."

"Well Anna's gonna do a good job teaching you, I can assure you."

"Yay..." Apollo yawned.

"Goodnight, Apollo."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

Jove kissed Apollo's head and closed the door.

 _Looks like I know what to get Apollo for his birthday. I'll_ _have to check the music stores to see if they have anything at a decent price._

Jove smiled. Apollo was almost eight years old. How could time have gone by so fast? One day, Jove was changing diapers, and the next he was buying trumpets. Pretty soon Apollo would be going to college.

 _Okay, I don't think I'm ready to start coming to terms with that fact._

Jove still had ten years to brace himself for an empty nest. It was pretty clear that he wasn't going to have anymore children, so he was going to have less time than Thalassa to emotionally prepare himself for the inevitable.

Jove's mind wandered to Trucy. She was only a few months old and already she was proving to be a slight annoyance to Apollo.

 _"She cries too much! I have to be quiet when she's taking a nap!"_

It was almost adorable how exasperated Apollo got because his sister cried. The corners of his mouth turned down as his nose scrunched up, and his hair would begin to droop. Jove would attempt to tell Apollo that he should be worried if Trucy stopped crying, but the little boy would not be deterred.

 _"_ _Nuh uh! I'd be happy. I bet Mommy would too."_

Realizing that the argument was just going around in circles, Jove ended it by ruffling his son's hair, an action that immediately derailed Apollo's concentration.

 _"_ _Daddy! You know I don't like it when you mess with my hair!"_

He attempted to return his hair to its original position with a huff.

Jove smiled. Apollo could be so silly sometimes. Maybe that was just a little kid thing, and not an Apollo thing, but regardless, it was entertaining.

Before he went to bed, Jove checked on his son who was sleeping soundly in his bed. Apollo's fingers were bent in the position Anna had taught him, and he pressed his lips together. Jove would have to tell Anna that Apollo could play the trumpet in his sleep. That would get a laugh, he thought.

Jove closed the door, and went to bed in his own room, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

. . .

 _We were decorating Apollo's room when Thalassa froze. "What's wrong?" I asked._

 _"Apollo's coming."_

 _"What? But he's not due for another six weeks!"_


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

 _"Well clearly, he has other plans." Thalassa said. She was now taking in shallow breaths._

 _"What are we supposed to do?"_

 _"Take me to the hospital!" Thalassa snapped._

 _"Right, right..." I helped Thalassa into the car we had just bought a month ago. The drive was silent and tense. Thalassa was still breathing heavily, and seemed completely out of it. Hell, I was completely out of it._

 _Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses began to rush Thalassa into the delivery room._

 _"Can I come with her?" I asked a nurse who nodded, and I began to follow close behind them._

 _"Push!"_

 _Thalassa screamed in pain, and I rubbed her hand and said things that I hoped were encouraging._

 _"C'mon, you're almost there! I know you can do it." In hindsight, it was pretty cheesy and didn't really help with much of anything, but it was all I could think to say._

 _It wasn't until late in the night when Apollo was born. A doctor handed him to Thalassa, and he was… tiny. So tiny that I couldn't believe that a human being could be that size. It didn't seem like the nurses could, either._

 _"He has some apnea..." One of the nurses muttered to a doctor._

 _Thalassa had gone to sleep shortly after handing Apollo back to the nurses, so it was up to me to ask all the questions."Is the apnea gonna… stop?"_

 _"We'll put him in the NICU, and we'll keep an eye on him, but apnea usually stops on its own as the baby's lungs get stronger. He'll be fine." She turned and started walking away with Apollo._

 _"Wait, we'll still be able to see him, right?"_

 _"Of course. We just need to get make sure he's stable enough."_

 _The nurse carried Apollo away, leaving me alone with my anxiety. I was overcome with a fear that I hadn't expected to feel. I had come to terms with having a baby, and I was even somewhat excited at the prospect, but I hadn't expected to feel as strongly about being separated from Apollo as I did. I paced around the room, hoping that it would relieve my stress._

 _"Jove… what are you doing?" Thalassa asked, her eyes half open._

 _"I'm pacing."_

 _"Can you do that somewhere else?" She yawned. "It's stressing me out._

 _"Where do I even go?"_

 _"To the library? I don't know. There has to be one around here somewhere."_

 _"Where is it?"_

 _"Ask one of the nurses."_

 _I sighed and went to seek out a nurse. The library was on the first floor where all the other amenities were. I browsed the shelves, unable to find anything interesting in the fiction section. I had somehow floated over to the medical books section where I found a book about birth defects. Despite being slightly repulsed, my curiosity got the best of me and I sat down in a chair and started to read._

 _. . ._

 _A few hours later, Thalassa was being served dinner. I returned to her room, slightly scarred from what I had read._

 _"How was your trip?" Thalassa asked. She had become more coherent now that the whole giving birth thing was a few hours behind her._

 _"I read a book about birth defects."_

 _She frowned. "Why'd you do that?"_

 _I shrugged. "There wasn't anything else that looked interesting. I'll tell you one thing though: it made me grateful that Apollo was only born premature. There was something called a harlequin baby, and it was the scariest shit I've ever seen. The baby didn't even have eyes! They were all-"_

 _"Um… I'm eating."_

 _"Right. My point still stands that I'm grateful now." I said. "I'm even more grateful that I didn't read that book before Apollo was born. I'd be even more scared than I already am."_

 _"Maybe I should've told you to jog around the hospital grounds instead."_

 _"Probably." I twiddled my thumbs. "Did you hear about Apollo?"_

 _"Mm hm. Guess we're staying here longer than we planned."_

 _"As much as I say I'm grateful Apollo was only born premature, I wish he had been born on time, y'know?"_

 _"Mm hm."_

 _"I've never seen a person that tiny."_

 _"Neither have I."_

 _I looked up at Thalassa, who was staring out the window. "When do you think we'll be able to see him?"_

 _"Soon." She sipped her water. "I'm sure of it."_

 _"I hope so..." I fished around my pockets for some spare change to buy a drink. "I think my parental instincts kicked in," I muttered._

 _"Why do you say that?"_

 _"I didn't want to hand over Apollo when the nurse wanted him back."_

 _"Guess that's what happens when you're a parent," Thalassa smiled, "it's about time you came around."_

 _I pulled out a dollar, and stood up to find a vending machine. "Yeah, yeah."_

 _. . ._

 _I had fallen asleep on the chair next to Thalassa. The nurse woke us up late at night to inform us that we could visit Apollo. He was under a dome and hooked up to a bunch of machines that just made him look smaller than he already was._

 _"Hey..." I started. "You holding up well?" Apollo probably couldn't hear me, but it made me feel better to talk to him. "I know this is hard, but you're gonna make it out okay. I believe in you."_

 _Thalassa gripped my arm with one hand while the other hovered over the dome separating our baby from us. "All those machines make everything seem so sterile and inhuman." A small weak laugh escaped her mouth. "Guess that's what happens when when a baby decides he wants to come out too early."_

 _"He just couldn't wait to see his beautiful mother," I said without any humor in my voice._

 _"Or his handsome father."_

 _I didn't have the heart nor the energy to refute her claim and it just hung in the air, weighing down on both of us._

 _"It was so much easier to joke around when I didn't know what was actually going on," I muttered. "I thought they were just gonna give him a breathing tube, or one of those little masks attached to the tank of oxygen, not quarantine him off."_

 _"I guess they have to. His immune system probably isn't very good."_

 _The doctor walked up to us. "Ah, you're here. I just thought it would be a good idea to explain Apollo's condition and what the two of you should expect in the coming months."_

 _"How long is he gonna be like this?" I asked before the doctor could say anything else._

 _"Just until he's a bit bigger and can regulate his own breathing. It shouldn't be too long," he started. "We're probably going to release Mrs. Justice sometime tomorrow evening or the morning after. Apollo will have to stay for a few weeks at least."_

 _"We'll get to see him, right?" Thalassa asked._

 _"Of course. You can visit him whenever you feel like it. We're just monitoring him to make sure he's developing properly, not performing any surgery. For a premature baby, he's in a pretty good condition, save for the apnea, of course._

 _I nodded. "Y-yeah. That's always good. I was reading this book,"_

 _Thalassa shook her head, a weak smile playing on her lips._

 _"And it had some premature babies in it and they were a lot worse off than Apollo. So that's a thing..."_

 _The doctor nodded. "Yes, there are more severe cases of premature birth. You and Mrs. Justice were fortunate enough to only be six weeks premature."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "I would have preferred Apollo to not be premature at all, but I suppose it's all about perspective."_

 _The doctor hesitated before he nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose it is." The doctor excused himself and left us alone._

 _"C'mon now, you scared him away," I said. "He's just trying to do his job."_

 _"I suppose. I guess I'm just not in the mood for reassurance." Thalassa shook her head. "I wasn't expecting any of this to happen. I'm supposed to deliver on time, and then we'd take our baby home once I recovered, not the other way around."_

 _"But like the doctor said, it could be worse," I attempted. The silence that followed made me force out a sigh. "This was all so much easier when we were both blissfully ignorant."_

 _Thalassa nodded._

 _I sat down and buried my head in my hands. "How do premature babies even_ happen _?"_

 _Thalassa shook her head, and rubbed my back. "I don't know."_

 _"He's gonna be fine," I muttered, and looked over at Apollo, "you're gonna be fine."_

. . .

"Nate, why aren't you and Anna married?" Apollo asked while practicing his trumpet.

Anna froze, but Nate just looked over at Apollo and said, "Why do you ask that?"

"Well you and Anna kiss all the time, and Daddy kissed Mommy, and they were married."

 _Yeah, and we all know how well that went._


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

"We're just dating," Anna said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"I wanted to get married," Nate muttered.

Anna glared at him. "Well I _told you_ I'm not ready."

"Why not?" Apollo asked.

"I'm just… not," Anna replied, rubbing her shoulder. "Why do we have to get married, anyway? All that's different is that you have a wedding ring and some paperwork."

"It's more than that," Nate argued. "It's a sign that you want to be with that person forever, that you'll always love them."

"And I can't love you without us getting married?"

Johann and Jove exchanged looks.

"I didn't say that," Nate replied.

"God, why can't we just keep everything the way it is now? What we have now is fine. Why change it?"

"Because I want to be able to say, 'this is my beautiful wife'. What's so wrong about that?"

"Nothing!" Anna shouted. "If we're gonna play that game, what's so wrong with not wanting to get married? I love introducing you to people. 'This is Nate. He's the best boyfriend I've ever had'. It's super sweet."

"Well I'd appreciate it if we could both say that we're each other's favorite spouse."

Anna's hands were shaking. "Well if being married's so great, why didn't it work out for Jove and Thalassa!"

 _What. The. Hell._

The whole room went silent as Anna realized what she had just said. "Holy shit, Jove, I'm sorry-"

"C'mon, Apollo, let's go home."

"Aw…"

"Jove-" Anna reached out to grab Jove's arm, but he shrugged it away.

Jove grabbed his keys and slammed the door to the studio shut.

"Jove! I'm sorry!" Anna had run out after Apollo and his father. Jove closed the car door and cranked the ignition. Once him and Apollo were out of the parking lot, he let out a deep sigh.

"Are we gonna see Anna again?" Apollo asked.

"Probably. Just not right now."

"When are we gonna see her?"

"I don't know."

"Is it gonna be soon?"

"I said I don't know," Jove snapped.

Apollo's eyes went wide and he sunk into his seat. "Oh."

Jove looked into his rear view mirror to see Apollo staring down at his hands. Jove knew he should have apologized for snapping at his son, but he was still furious at Anna. Did she really have to bring up his failed marriage as a reason to not get married? She _knew_ how much all of this had hurt him and yet she just brings it up so easily.

"What did Anna mean when she said it didn't work out for you and Mommy?" Apollo asked after a few minutes of silence.

"She was talking about when I was married to your mother."

"Oh," he continued looking down at his hands. "That wasn't very nice..."

"No, it wasn't."

Apollo looked up from his hands. "Are you still gonna be friends with Anna?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little mad at her at the moment."

"Good, 'cause I wanna keep learning trumpet."

Jove couldn't help but smile, but then he remembered that he had just snapped at Apollo a few moments before. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was upset and shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"It's okay..." Apollo had gone back to looking at his hands.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah."

Jove wanted to say more, but knew that Apollo wasn't going to say much more than he already had. He clams up when he's done talking about something.

When Jove and Apollo returned home, there was a message from Anna on Jove's phone. He debated listening to it, and decided he'd wait until after he had made Apollo dinner and sent him to bed.

And so Jove made some spaghetti, watched the new episode of the Steel Samurai, and sent Apollo off to bed with a kiss on the head.

The message from Anna stared back at him, just daring him to open it. He pressed the listen button.

"Hey, Jove, it's Anna. I just wanted to apologize again for how I acted. I felt really backed into a corner, but that didn't give me any right to bring up your relationship. If you're not still rightfully pissed at me, could you maybe let me come over and we can talk it out? Bye."

 _Do I wanna talk to Anna tonight?_

Jove looked at the clock. It was only 9 at night. He could spare the time. Besides, his rage had subsided into merely a less severe feeling of just being upset. He could probably handle a face-to-face conversation. He pressed the call button and waited for Anna to pick up.

"Oh, you actually called me back," she said. Her words suggested surprise, but her tone made her sound more relieved. "I'm _really_ sorry about that. I overstepped my boundaries way too far..."

"You wanted to come over, right?" Jove said.

"Y-yeah?"

"C'mon. I want an explanation, and I want one now," he joked.

Anna let out a small laugh, then said, "alright, alright, you'll get one. Just give me a little bit. I'll be there as soon as possible."

There was a knock on Jove's apartment door, and he let Anna in.

"Alright, so first thing first, what the hell was that shit."

Anna took a deep breath. "So… I have this thing. I think it's commitment issues or something, but I have a _really_ hard time committing to things. I guess that's the textbook definition of commitment issues," Anna let out a short laugh, "I think my dad sorta got it in my head to not stick to much of anything. He was always trying to be in a stable relationship after my mom divorced him, but everyone he dated rejected him." Anna shrugged. "I guess it rubbed off on me, and now the idea of being with someone for so long scares me. What if Nate decides I'm not good enough and wants to dump me? I mean, Nate and I are the weird ones in our friend group for actually being in a relationship. We've been dating for years, but what if it doesn't last much longer than our honeymoon? What if we get married and I realize what a huge mistake I've made? That thought alone terrifies me. What if we have kids and we get divorced, and there's a lengthy custody battle. It'll really mess with the kids if they're caught up in this lengthy, bitter custody battle. I just… it's too much."

Jove took a moment to absorb what Anna had told him. "So the moment that you brought up my relationship…?"

"I felt overwhelmed, y'know? I just said the first thing that came to mind to get Nate to stop talking. It was really dumb, and I shouldn't have said it, but I guess it got him off my back..." She laughed, attempting to lighten the mood. "That was a bad joke."

"Do you want to know what I think about everything?" Jove asked.

"Yeah, that's part of the reason I wanted to come over."

"I think that if you really love Nate, and if he really loves you, you should at least try to get married. If you keep things the way they are, I can guarantee you that Nate will break up with you, and I know you don't want that. Marriage isn't much different from dating. Nothing is going to change except for your last name, and the jewelry you wear."

Anna rubbed the back of her neck. "Y-you're right… But I think I need to think about this."

"That's perfectly fine."

"So you think I should get married. But what if we get divorced?"

"Just take everything one day at a time. Whatever happens will happen, and the sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be."

Anna nodded. "I think I can do that." She stood up to leave. "Thank you, Jove." I stood up to show her out and she wrapped her arms around my torso. "You're a pretty cool dude, you know that?"

"Well thanks. I'm glad you think so."

. . .

 _"Apollo's being released today..." Thalassa gripped my hand in hers. "I'm really nervous."_

 _"Me too," I replied._


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

 _"What if he's not completely_ _recovered?" I sat in the driver's side of the car while Thalassa rubbed the back of my hand with her thumb._

 _"They wouldn't discharge him if they didn't think it was okay," Thalassa said. "What reason would they have to do something like that?"_

 _"I guess you're right." I wasn't totally convinced. Call it irrational, but there was that little part of me that whispered doubts in my ear. The longer I was left by myself, the worse they got. "He hasn't been there long. Is that weird?"_

 _"He's been doing fine this whole time. I suppose that could be considered weird, but why get bent out of shape over something we should be happy about?_ _"_

 _I stared at my hands clasped together in my lap. "You're right." We sat in silence for a while._

 _"Do you remember the time you invited me to play at your show? Like, the very first time?" I finally said._

 _"Of course I do. Why bring that up now?"_

 _"I was just wondering why you would possibly ask me to fill in for him. I'm sure you had plenty of more competent people than me."_

 _Thalassa leaned towards me. "Can I let you in on a little secret?"_

 _I frowned. "Sure?"_

 _"I asked him not to come in."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"The truth is, I had been watching you for a while. You'd be at the same place, at the same time every day without fail. I felt like I needed to get to know someone that punctual."_

 _"Well, I didn't do it on purpose. Guess my internal clock was that determined to keep me on schedule. Probably didn't help that I had to sleep on my guitar case. Wasn't very comfortable."_

 _Thalassa frowned. "Why'd you do that?"_

 _"Didn't want people stealing my stuff. At least they'd have to kill me before they stole anything."_

 _"Wow."_

 _"Yeah. But please tell me you didn't fire some capable guy just so I could play for you. I'd feel very guilty if that were the case."_

 _"Oh, no, he wasn't very good anyway. We were probably going to stop having him play when we found a replacement, and we did."_

 _"I guess that makes me feel a little better. Still wish you had given him more notice..."_

 _Thalassa looked down at her hands. "That wasn't very professional, was it?"_

 _"It really wasn't."_

 _"I probably should have given him something," she said. "Like some money or a reference."_

 _"Yep." I opened the car door and stepped out. "Well that made me feel better for some reason, so we might as well get this over with before I need another pep talk."_

 _A small smile crept onto Thalassa's face as she got out and we stepped into the main lobby of the hospital. Even though we've come here almost every day, n_ _either of us had really gotten a good look at the place since most of our spent here was worrying about Apollo. We usually kept our heads down and walked over to the NICU as fast as possible. Visiting Apollo wasn't ever a very happy time. Even though we could somewhat suspend our disbelief, the stark, white walls and sterile environment of the room shattered any illusions of normalcy. I tried to think of us as lucky that Apollo wasn't as premature as he could have been, but the longer we waited to take him home, the less I was able to believe in my philosophy._

 _As we walked into the NICU, the doctor Thalassa scared off the day Apollo was born greeted us. "Good morning. How is everyone today?"_

 _"Nervous," I said._

 _"We both are," Thalassa added, squeezing my hand._

 _"Well Apollo is doing great. We just have to go over the care plan to make sure he's getting exactly what he needs, file the paper work to discharge him, and then we'll be good to go!"_

 _"Care plan?" I asked._

 _"Yes, premature babies have more needs than full term babies. We'll just create a feeding and sleeping schedule, and go over precautions for allowing visitors. It won't take long."_

 _"O-okay."_

 _We stepped out of the hospital with our detailed care plan, and stood in front of our car._

 _"Did you set up the car seat?" Thalassa asked._

 _"I thought you were doing that," I said._

 _"Was I?"_

 _"I think so."_

 _"I'm pretty sure you were supposed to set it up," Thalassa countered._

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"Pretty sure."_

 _"Well I didn't set it up, and neither did you, so who's going back to pick it up?"_

 _"I suppose I will." I gave her the keys, and sat at a bench with Apollo while Thalassa went back to pick up the car seat._

 _"Hey, Polly," I whispered. "Guess you're gonna have to wait a little bit to go home. But let me tell you, you're gonna like it there. You have a room all to yourself that doesn't have any tubes anywhere. What do you think about that?"_

 _Apollo made little baby noises._

 _"I will assume you're excited; though I guess you wouldn't really be able to see much of anything. You're eyes aren't all that great are they?"_

 _Apollo stared at ahead, not really seeming to see much of anything._

 _"I'll take that as a no."_

 _I waited for Thalassa to come back, occasionally striking up a one-sided conversation with Apollo. She pulled up twenty minutes later with the car seat installed in the back._

 _"You installed it correctly, right?" I asked._

 _"Of course I did."_

 _"You're sure?"_

 _"We both took the same class, right?"_

 _"Yeah, we did." I handed her Apollo, and she fastened him in._

 _"Are you ready to go home?"_

 _"Yeah."_

...

"So Apollo's graduating from elementary school, huh?" Johann asked.

"Yeah, I feel old." Jove replied.

"Well Apollo's just getting started. He's still got seven years of hell left."

"Don't say it like that!" I said. "I don't want him to hear. I've gotten lucky that he doesn't hate school as much as he could."


	30. Important Update

**Important Update**

I am ceasing updating 'Broken Frames, Torn Pictures' on a chapter basis until I completely finish the story, and edit it, and all that jazz. I was going to wait until I had finished the story, but I am just so utterly dissatisfied with the version published that it seriously needs a rewrite. It's been taking longer and longer to write chapters I did such a terrible job developing the plot, characters, and just about everything else, that it frustrated me so I'm just going to take what I have, chuck quite a bit of it, and see what I can salvage from the remains.

I won't be deleting this version, but it will probably be about a year or so before I update again, so please bear with me. I'll be posting updates on my profile, so check back there!

I'm already in the process of refining 'Day By Day' as well since that too is a draft.

Sorry for the abrupt decision; I've just been thinking about how unhappy I am with 'Broken Frames, Torn Pictures' that I just had to take it and try to rework it. Expect a better version of this story sometime in the future!


End file.
